


Hero High

by emma98



Series: Origins [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bisexual Characters, Canon Typical Violence, F/M, High School AU, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Worldbuilding, a different kind of origin story, bucky barnes is the best bro, darcy and steve are adorably awkward penguins, lots of background pairings, no superpowers (at first), principal nick fury has a big project he's working on, skinny Steve is precious, teenage polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 94,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6731476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emma98/pseuds/emma98
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martinville High has been selected to participate in the prestigious Yingley Games, and Principal Fury thinks he’s assembled quite the team.  They need a little work though.  Or a lot of work.  </p><p>Will this unusual set of senior high school students learn to work together as a team before the games start and their lives change in a SUPER way forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Be Cool.  Stay in School.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, this is the first thing I've ever written outside of school essays. It comes from playing Avengers Academy with my little sister and my brain going, huh. What if we had (another) high school au out there?
> 
> I hope that you enjoy!!

**Chapter One:  Be Cool.  Stay in School.**

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy Lewis would be the first person to admit that she did not know very much.  

 

But she definitely knew that a call to the principal's office was never a good thing.  On the first day of her senior year in high school, a call to the principal's office seemed like a most inauspicious beginning. 

 

The fact that she could barely squeeze into the room full of a bunch of her peers was more curious than foreboding, but still, being called in on the first day with the most ridiculously cobbled together group of her fellow seniors she had ever seen was definitely never going to amount to anything resembling good.

 

She cursed her short stature and looked around, trying to assess who else had been summoned to Principal Fury's office, grimacing when she realized she couldn't see over or around the new Swedish (Icelandic?) exchange student who was being hosted by that nice man Selvig that lived next door to where she was currently a foster child of the Fosters (she appreciated the irony of their surname).  

 

She could HEAR Tony Stark.  The guy should have been in college by now after skipping an awful lot of grades in elementary school.  As a matter of fact, Tony Stark should have been able to have a few degrees under his belt.  There was a rumor that he  _ did _ , but he stuck around high school to increase his sad social skills (Darcy had a feeling it was because he couldn’t do anything without his best friend James Rhodes, including leave high school).  But here Tony was, in his super senior year of high school, his feet kicked up on  the desk of Principal Fury, chatting amiably with anyone, but mostly just enjoying the sound of his own voice.

 

She tried to look around Thor again and found it nearly impossible. She knew that Jane, her foster sister and best gal pal, was fathoms deep in infatuation with him, but he really was... _ bulky _ .  Definitely no fun to have in cramped, close quarters.  

 

"Well Sparky, we could try to form a totem pole like we used to."

 

Darcy turned to her left and felt her cheeks redden ever so slightly and the pulse in her throat jump just a bit.  Because sure enough, there was a self-effacing sarcastic smirk twisting the beautiful pink lips of Steve Rogers.  The adorable Steve Rogers.  The Steve Rogers who she had been hopelessly and fathoms deep in love with since even before kindergarten when he had (attempted to) pummel Brock Rumlow for trying to make her eat paste. 

 

They had known each other since they were three years old.  Before Darcy’s beloved nana had passed when she turned eight, she had been the neighborhood child caregiver, watching over the kids whose parents worked and couldn’t afford real daycare.  That had included Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.  They had spent their toddler years together, getting into all sorts of kinds of fun and mischief.  Steve had been the first boy she had held hands with...cuddled and napped with...kissed.  All before the age of five, of course.  Bucky had been the second boy she had done all those things with, but for whatever reason, tiny Bucky had declared her gross a month after they turned five.  He had declared her his little sister though, and Steve his little brother.  And there had been hell to pay to all the bullies who dared cross any line against them since that time.  

 

Steve had never declared Darcy his little sister.  And she had never even thought of him as a brother.

  
He was  _ Steven.   _ Sweet.  Brave.  Kind to a ridiculous degree.  She had declared her undying love for him to her nana when she was a baby still.  And truth be told, she still  _ loved him heaps _ .  And when she had turned thirteen there were all sorts of hormone addled  _ things _ that crept up on her that made the love she felt for him even more complex.  She kept quiet though.  She would never want to destroy the lifelong friendship they had built up so well, and it would certainly be destroyed if she put herself out there only to be gently and kindly rebuffed.

 

"You two still wouldn't be tall enough," Bucky chuckled from Darcy's right side.  He looked down at Darcy and said, "Five feet plus five feet is still not Thor sized."

 

"Your mathematical skills are simply awe inspiring, Barnes."

 

Bucky's eyes lit up and he turned his head (it was seriously the only range of movement any of them had in the practically closet sized office that held at least two dozen senior students).  He grinned down to see another of his favorite tiny people.  He frequently joked about having a collection of them, as his closest friends were all under five foot four. His fondest wish was  having them fight gladiator style to see who would be the most favoritest of all of his favorite tiny people.

 

"Helen of Cho!  Love of my life!" Bucky winked at her.  "You gonna join the totem pole of my collection of adored tiny people?"

 

"Buck," Steve huffed a sigh, his ears going pink. 

 

Darcy watched those delightfully out turned ears turn pink and she could swear she had little cartoon hearts drifting out of the top of her head in response.  She knew he was either embarrassed that Bucky still considered Steve one of his  _ adored _ tiny people or the addition of the admittedly tiny Helen Cho next to her had caused the color on his fair skin, going slowly from his ears to his cheeks.  It had to be because of Helen.  Helen was perfect and smart and super thin and funny and was the kind of girl that most boys were eager to take home and introduce to their mothers.  Despite the fact that the both of them topped out at five feet three inches, Helen was essentially the Anti-Darcy. 

 

Darcy was the orphaned wild child who had been shipped from foster home to foster home since she turned eight and was classified by the older ladies in the neighborhood as bad news.  Darcy was the girl who had eaten a worm because Bucky had dared her to one spring afternoon when they were seven.  Darcy was the girl who was practically sex-less in the eyes of adorable, pink eared Steven Grant Rogers.

 

Darcy bit at the inside of her cheek and turned to stare at the girl she considered her close friend, staving off jealousy pretty easily.  If anyone deserved Steve Rogers and all his stalwart and true perfection, it was Helen Cho.

 

"Now, where's Bananas Foster and the Russian Red Tide?  My collection will be complete," Bucky turned his head slightly to look around the room.  He already was well over six feet tall at the age of 18, and his height allowed him to look over nearly everyone else, save for the ridiculously tall and broad Thor. 

 

"I heard that!" Jane called out from further into the miniscule office. 

 

"Janie, are you in the ceiling?" Darcy furrowed her brow in genuine confusion, causing Steve to snort with laughter. 

 

"I'm up here!" Jane called back.

 

"In the ceiling?" Darcy confirmed.  "That's Barton's schtick.  Not yours, Janie.  Get down here before you hurt yourself."

 

"She's in front of Thor."

 

The announcement came from behind Bucky and his assortment of tiny, cherished people.  And he turned his head to give a slow smirk Natasha's way.  The red-head had been deadly silent in her arrival, just as she always was.  They always joked that Natasha had moved into the school district at the age of twelve when she had graduated espionage school early.  In reality, she had moved from New York City to the small town of Martinville in upstate New York. 

 

She had quickly fallen in with Darcy and her assorted band of misfit toys.  All of whom were scattered throughout the room at that very moment. Aside from Steve, Bucky, Jane and Helen, there was Thor, who was new, but definitely an oddity.  And he followed Darcy and Jane around like a happy super intelligent puppy most days, booming voice and tinkling laughter at all the oddities of their American life.  Barton was surely in the ceiling, or perched on the top of the bookcase in the back of the room.  Even Dr. Banner, their favorite science teacher was standing next to Principal Fury’s unoccupied desk that she couldn't even begin to see around all the other people.  Her whole crew was there, which only worried her more.

 

"So what do you reckon this is about, Sparky?" Steve wondered thoughtfully as he stood shoulder to shoulder with her, barely an inch taller than her and taking up far less room with his stick thin frame.

 

"We are seniors, Steven.  Stop calling me Sparky," Darcy muttered miserably.  "It was cute when we were three years old, but I'm going to be eighteen soon."

 

"In six days," Steve nodded.

 

Natasha gave a small sound behind her, something between a pleased hum and a chortle of laughter.  And the thing with Natasha was, that if she didn't want you to hear her, you never heard her.  Darcy wrinkled her nose and did her best to turn and glare at her friend.  Always sticking her nose where it definitely didn't belong. 

 

"It's fitting.  I mean, you electrocuted Thor three days ago," Steve reminded her.  "That means you've accidentally electrocuted someone every year for the last fifteen years."

 

"If Jane hadn't of made me carry around that darned laptop, it would have never dropped in Selvig's hot tub---" Darcy huffed out petulantly. 

 

"I think it's quite adorable that you have pet names for each other!" Thor boomed, using his intimidating presence to part the rest of the students and turn to grin at Steve and Darcy.  "My mother said it would be rare to find your heart match so early in life, but when you do, it is surely a wondrous and beautiful thing."

 

"uhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm," Darcy's blue eyes turned into the size of saucers and she could FEEL the blush coming off of ALL of Steve's skin. 

 

"Heart match," Rumlow laughed obnoxiously from the other side of the room.  "Two mercy flushes are meant to be.  Seems legit."

 

"HEY!" Steve barked out.  And he may be just an itty bitty slip of a guy, but he had been the first guy in their sixth grade class to have his voice drop two octaves overnight.  He really had that whole bark being worse than your bite thing down as his gravelly word bounced off the walls of the room.  "Call her that again, and you're gonna---"

 

"I think I've heard enough," Principal Fury announced from the front door to his office, followed by a very pretty woman with a very severe hairstyle and plain, boring black pantsuit. 

 

Darcy was pushed into Steve's chest and they both stumbled against the wall as the students made room for Fury and his guest to walk up to join Banner at the desk. Steve’s arms, surprisingly strong for being so thin and reedy went around her waist to steady her, less she bring them both down with her usual clumsiness.  Natasha made the noise again and Darcy flat-out glared at the girl who usually inspired fear in all the other students in Martinville High.  

 

"Easy there, Sparky," Steve mumbled in her ear, his cheeks heated up so hot he was sure they might start on fire at any moment.  He swallowed nervously and let one surprisingly large hand splay out over her stomach, fingers pressing into soft, warm flesh.  He looked up and saw Bucky smirking at him knowingly and Steve felt a contented sigh rocket through his body, from the tips of his toes all the way up his whole body.  Bucky was the only one who knew, really, just how much Steve really liked Darcy.  REALLY liked her.  He liked her so much, that it would probably be more accurate to say that he loved her, really.

 

Darcy squirmed away and Steve straightened up, staring straight ahead at the principal, hoping that it would be done and over with soon enough.  If he had to stand so close to Darcy, be so close to her that they were essentially breathing each other's air, he would surely give himself away.  She smelled so good.  Like sugar and vanilla and apricots.  He wanted to keep on holding her to him.  She was warmth and curves and happiness and he really  _ needed  _ to know if her lips tasted as good as they looked.

 

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've summoned this meeting of the greatest Martinville High has to offer," Fury said with such a large amount of boredom and disinterest that it was clear that he didn't give one small ounce of crap about what they were wondering or who they even were.  "First things first, I'd like to introduce you to your new vice principal, Maria Hill."

 

"What happened to Vice Principal Carter?" Clint asked from the vents.

 

"GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE BARTON!" Fury bellowed.

 

The vents immediately slid open and Barton dangled from the ceiling before dropping gracefully right in front of Steve and Darcy, forcing them even closer together.  He turned his head and winked at Darcy before stage whispering,

 

"Excellent bra choice, Lewis.  I like the red white and blue motif.  Very patriotic."

 

"Keep looking down girls' shirts, and I'm telling Bobbi," Natasha muttered from behind Darcy and a suddenly incensed Steve.

 

"Shit," Barton sighed before turning and standing at attention, only to realize he was staring right at Thor's broad back.  He shrugged and took two seconds to  _ climb _ Thor, sitting on one broad shoulder.  "Whaddup Odinson? Good first day of American school?"

 

"It has been most entertaining," Thor admitted. 

 

"Vice Principal Carter retired.  She is currently enjoying the lovely beaches of the Caribbean with her husband," Fury revealed once the room quieted again.  "Vice Principal Hill has come to us at a very exciting time.  This year, Martinville High School has been chosen to participate in a very prestigious event.  The Yingley Games."

 

There was no flutter of recognition among any one of the students.  Fury huffed out a sigh.

 

"No one?" he wondered.

 

"Is it like the Tri-wizard tournament?" Darcy offered helpfully.

 

"Very good, Darcy," Dr. Banner smiled at her.  "It is very similar."

 

"I'm surprised that none of your parents or grandparents have ever told you about the games," Fury admitted.  "It is a tournament of sorts.  The games are legendary, and have only been played a handful of times in the modern world.  Everyone in this room has been selected, because you will play a part in these games.  Whether it be support, strategy or the actual physical trials, you will be an integral part in our success or failure.  Let's hope for you all, it is a success."

 

"Who are we competing against?" Tony wondered, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head.  Vice Principal Hill rolled her eyes and pushed Tony's feet off the desk, nearly making him lose balance.  "Hey, watch it lady.  Don't make me bring my butler in to have a talk with you."

 

"Your butler is a voice in the ceiling," Pepper Potts remarked dryly before reaching out and smacking the back of Tony's head for good measure. 

 

"We will not know the identities of the other schools until the unveiling at the Winter Solstice," Hill answered. “There will be a celebration to begin the games on that evening.”

 

"Freaky," Bucky wrinkled his nose.  He had been the school's star athlete for years.  But it hadn't come naturally, he had prepared and worked for every ounce of his success.  "Doesn't seem like we can plan and practice if we don't know what we're going up against here."

 

"Then we will prepare for anything.  For everything," Hill shrugged, as if that were the easiest thing in the world.

 

"Gross," Clint sighed, sagging his shoulders. 

 

"I'm sorry, but how much time and effort is this going to take?" James Rhodes demanded of the adults in the room.  "This is our senior year."

 

 

"Yeah, we have parties to throw," Tony nodded eagerly.

 

"I was thinking more along the lines of colleges to apply to," Rhodey rolled his eyes at his friend.

 

"And also parties to throw," Tony nodded.

 

"Some of us have jobs," Happy Hogan mumbled, hoping not to be heard.

 

"Actually, you don't," Fury shook his head.  "You also will not be participating in any other extra-curricular activities.  All of your focus and time will be spent preparing for the Games."

 

"Everyone is going to be getting a stipend," Dr. Banner revealed, "there is a foundation of sorts, SHIELD, who is bankrolling this whole year.  This is so you don't have to worry about anything else but preparing for these games."

 

Steve and Bucky shared a look.  It'd be nice not to have to worry about hustling for money at odd jobs, actually.  Steve lived with the Barnes family, as they had officially adopted him two years ago when his mother had passed away from cancer.  They weren't destitute, but money was definitely tight.  The boys were always trying to bring an extra buck or two home to help out.  Especially Steve, who felt like he was a burden to Mrs. Barnes and her other children.

 

"But what about college?" Pepper echoed Rhodey's concern.  "There are SAT's, applications, interviews---"

 

"It'll be handled," Fury said evenly. 

 

"I hardly think---"

 

"It'll be handled," Fury said decisively. 

 

"I would appreciate it, if we were told HOW it would be handled," Pepper came right back, cold steel in her voice as she stood up to her intimidating principal with no fear.

 

Darcy shivered next to Steve and he reached out and squeezed her hand reflexively.  Darcy hated confrontation and Steve knew it.  He definitely knew it.  He had tried to stop himself from starting confrontations when she was present, even though it had definitely been difficult.  Steven Grant Rogers tripped over air and fell into vats full of confrontations. 

 

"Essentially, you will give the guidance counselor your short list of where you want to go, you will be accepted into those schools," Fury said shortly.

 

"What?" Jane piped up.  "That's...WHAT?"

 

"These are  _ very _ presitigous games.  Your lives are about to change," Fury rolled his eyes, as if the kids should have already known that.  "This is a very important eight months coming up."

 

"Ominous much?" Sam elbowed Bucky in the ribs. 

 

"Where'd you come from?" Bucky whispered.

 

"Army crawled from the front of the room.  Did a little prank on Rumlow and Rollins," Sam grinned, waving at Darcy and throwing a sideways peace sign Steve's way.  "No one messes with my people."

 

"We will be splitting the group up into two sections.  One of these classrooms will be primarily working with Vice Principal Hill, and the other will be working with Dr. Banner and myself," Fury revealed.  "Do not stress or think too heavily on how you are split up.  This is merely to make the training more efficient.  You will be in the same classroom space for the rest of the year, so get used to the faces around you."

 

Darcy squeezed Steve's hand, alerting him to the fact that he was still holding her hand.  He dropped it immediately and gave her a sheepish smile.  Natasha made that damned noise again. 

 

"Lists have been posted outside of the office," Hill announced.  "We will meet in Classroom 3 in the annex building tomorrow morning at the start of school.  Thank you for your time."

 

Everyone turned to exit the room quickly, but stopped when they heard the crash.  Turning around, they saw that Rollins and Rumlow had their shoelaces tied together and were now a heap of overly muscled limbs on the ground.

 

“Wilson, you fucker!”

 

* * *

 

Darcy stared at the lists.

 

Or she TRIED to stare at the lists.  The lists that were out of sight five students ahead of her and Steve.  How they had gotten in the back of the line when they had been the first out of the principal's office had been a mystery.

 

"Steven, where you serious about the human totem pole?" Darcy wondered.  "Because I have very strong thighs, and I think we could definitely pull it off."

 

Steve turned red again and Darcy furrowed her brow.  She turned and saw that Helen had popped up alongside Sam. 

 

"Crawling was a good idea," Helen nodded.  She held out her phone while Sam held out his, each of the phones held a picture of one of the lists.  "We're together, Darcyloo!"

 

"YES!" Darcy grinned.  There, under Banner's name was her entire crew of people.  Steve, Bucky, Helen, Jane, Thor, Clint, Sam and Natasha.  Also Tony.  Weird.  There were also a few other people on the list, but she wasn't close with any of them. "Weird, Rhodey, Pepper and Happy are on Ms. Hill's list."

 

"They said not to read too much into it," Sam shrugged.  "I mean...we are the SUPERIOR group, but yeah, don't read too much into it."

 

Helen gave Sam a thoughtful look and wondered, "Do you have to buy specially made hats or do you just squeeze that fat head into normal sized ones?"

 

Sam gave her a grin and a wink, "Specially made hats, babe.  For my enormously genius brain."

 

“Team winners over here!” Rollins grinned as he pushed past Darcy with an unforgiving shoulder check that had her knocked off her balance into Steve.

 

“Watch it!” Steve grumbled, steadying Darcy carefully before making to advance on the idiotic bully who had been Brock Rumlow’s partner in crime since they were in elementary school.

 

“What makes you think you’re the winning team?” Bucky wondered, putting a strong hand on Steve’s shoulder to hold him still.  The last thing they needed was to get kicked out of this sweet,  _ paying  _ gig before it even began.

 

“It’s not a competition between the two teams,” Helen rolled her eyes.  “We’re just split up between our two advisors.”

 

“Uh, you guys have Banner, we have the new badass vice principal,” Rumlow rolled his eyes back at Helen.  “And your team is full of nerds.”

 

“Really?  Nerd is the best you can come up with?” Darcy muttered, looking away from the men.  

 

“What’s that Homeless?” Rumlow held a hand up to his ear.  “I couldn’t hear you over all of the poor and sadness coming off of you.”

 

“Fuck off, Rumlow,” Steve shrugged Bucky’s hand off and took a step to the man who towered over him by at least half a foot.  Bucky grabbed the smaller man again, exerting some force to keep a seriously pissed off Steve in check.  He looked to Darcy, who was already shrinking backwards away from the fight. 

 

“And if you needed more proof we’re the good team, there it is,” Rollins laughed.  “You losers have Rogers and Lewis on your team.  Mighty Mouse and Bazooka Jugs.  Obviously you’re the losers.”

 

“You know what?” Bucky huffed out a long, suffering sigh.  He gave Sam a nod before making sure that Thor was close by.  He then dramatically lifted his hand off of Steve’s shoulder and nudged Darcy further away with his shoulder.  “Have at ‘em, punk.”

 

Steve didn’t need to be told twice, rushing towards Rumlow with tightly clenched fists.  Bucky and Sam weren’t far behind, thankfully.  Because while Steve definitely didn’t lack nerve or guts, he did lack strength and power.  He got one good right cross against Rumlow’s jaw before Rollins tackled the smaller Steve to the ground, fists pummelling against his stomach.

 

“Stop!” Darcy squeaked out, as Helen put an arm around her and pulled her away from the growing fray as Bucky went for Rumlow and Sam went to pull Rollins off of Steve.  

 

“It’s alright, they have this,” Helen assured her, petting Darcy’s long brown, curling locks, smiling softly when Darcy hid her face in Helen’s shoulder.  Helen winced when she saw the rest of the senior members of the hockey team coming into the fray to aid Rollins and Rumlow.  She cracked her neck.  “We may have to help out here, Darcyloo.  You going to be okay?”

 

“What fine fun is this and why was I not invited?” Thor demanded jovially.  He rolled up the sleeves on his crisp linen button down and stepped towards the fray, jostling his shoulder so that Clint would hop off.

 

“Huh, maybe we won’t have to step in,” Helen shrugged.

 

“Why are they fighting now?” Jane wondered nonchalantly as she watched Thor manhandle three meatheads easily and with a lot of happy laughter.  

 

“They called Darcy and Steve losers.  And were hideously rude,” Natasha answered, appearing from out of nowhere.  She gave Darcy a small smile, “You girls okay?”

 

“Fine,” Helen promised.  

 

“Good, I’m going in,” Natasha nodded, pulling long red hair back into a ponytail before stalking into the messy brawling boys.  She reached out a hand and grabbed Rumlow’s ear with shocking force, causing the man to fall to his knees with a whimper.  

 

“You are  _ not  _ a loser,” Jane promised Darcy, smashing her between she and Helen in threeway hug.  “You are awesome.”

 

“I don’t like it when they fight,” Darcy whispered, big, tear-filled blue eyes looking up to check on Steve, who seemed to be holding his own against one of the smaller members of the hockey team.  

 

“I know, honey,” Jane nodded sympathetically.  “If it makes you feel any better, Pepper went to go and get the new vice principal, it should be over in no time.”

 

“Pepper’s a no good snitch,” Clint grumbled from across the hall where he had pulled the shirt up and over the head of his victim, hockey fight style, and was punching him for all he was worth.

 

“You’re not supposed to have your hearing aid turned up that loud,” Natasha scolded him from the other side of the hallway, where she had Rumlow in a headlock.  “Pepper’s not so bad.”

 

“You’re not supposed to be reading my lips at school,” Clint sneered back at her.  

 

“ **AND NONE OF YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING** !”

 

All of the students stopped what they were doing and turned to Principal Fury, who was standing at the door to his office, a frighteningly blank expression on his face.  He was flanked on either side by Dr. Banner and Vice Principal Hill, each looking disappointed in their own way.  Fury’s shoulders sagged.

  
“We are in for a lot of work if we’re ever going to get ready for these games.  I will see you all on Saturday morning, at eight am sharp.  Dress in your gym uniforms.  And be ready to sweat.”

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. Again. First time writing and certainly the first time posting anything. Please be kind? And thanks so much for stopping by and reading!


	2. We All Scream for Ice Cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Happy Day before Civil War Day. Civil War Eve, if you will. I will hang a stocking up on my fireplace and hope that Evans Claus and his magical elves leave happy gifts and what not. 
> 
> This chapter is...I don't know? Cute Steve and Darcy stuff, and a little bit of feels and absolutely adorable Bucky and Natasha? And a wild Tony Stark!

**Chapter Two:  We All Scream for Ice Cream**

 

* * *

 

Jane and Helen were waiting outside of the principal's office when the brawling boys had finally been released.  Natasha had avoided being caught fighting altogether.  This would be the thirty-eighth time in the last four years that she had gotten out of any kind of trouble that she had certainly deserved.  She was currently walking up the hallway, her arms full of recently liberated cold packs from the nurse's office and a first aid kit that she handed off to Helen immediately.

 

Helen knew her way around a first aid kit.  It tended to happen when you hung with the crew she hung with.  Steve was a violence magnet.  Bucky was a "protect Steve at all costs" magnet.  And the rest of the boys and Natasha would of course, fall into the fray.  They had been in the second grade when Darcy, who had always been just as much as a violence magnet as Steve, had discovered a deep dislike for confrontation and fighting. 

 

Before she had turned eight, Darcy Lewis had quite liked confrontation.  She had been particularly talented at it.  But then her grandmother had passed away and suddenly Darcy never wanted to argue.  Which was a shame, in Helen's opinion.  Because some people were just born with special talents.  Helen liked to think that her special talent was first aid.  Sam’s was getting from one place to another.  And Darcy's had been a wicked tongue that always won every simple, childish debate their friends could do.

 

She had once made Brock Rumlow cry with just her words.  It had been awesome.

 

It had been a vicious cycle when they were young.  Darcy would get in over her head with her words.  Steve would jump into the fray with his tiny fists.  And eventually everyone was in the principal's office.  (Principal Phillips had been most unamused).

 

Darcy still had that quick tongue, and an over abundance of sarcasm, but it was always playfully done with her friends, and she worked very hard at not being hurtful. 

 

"Where is she?" Steve wondered softly, taking the cold compress from Natasha with gratitude.  He involuntarily hissed when the cold plastic met his very bruised cheekbone. 

 

"Once she loaded me up with this stuff, she made a run for it," Natasha answered back quietly.  "Said she wanted to be alone."

 

Steve gave Natasha his best unimpressed look.

 

"She looked like she was heading to the pond," Natasha offered with a shrug.  She smirked when Steve took off as fast as he could for the nearest exit.  Bucky was suddenly standing next to her, watching Steve go with a small smile on his face.  She looked to Steve and Darcy's best friend, blatantly ignoring the flirty smirk he was now aiming right at her.  "Are they any closer to figuring things out?"

 

"About as close as they ever are," Bucky gave a quick shrug.  "Which, you know, is not very close at all.  You would know better than me, since they talk to you on their own and not as a unit."

 

"Darcy thinks Steve likes Helen, or Jane, or me.  Or really anyone else with a pulse that isn't her," Natasha nodded.  "And Steve thinks that she likes you."

 

"What now?" Bucky's eyes widened as far as the swollen and black and blue right eye would allow, at any rate. 

 

"I wouldn't worry about it," Natasha shrugged.  "You just have to declare your intentions for another, and it'll clear that mess right up."

 

"Well...see, there's the---what?" Bucky shook his head, all of his swagger and bluster blowing from his sails as Natasha continued to look up at him with that perfectly blank look that always intrigued Bucky to a ridiculous degree. 

 

"Something tells me that everything that is going to be happening this year with Fury's little games will be speeding all of these processes along," Natasha wagered.  "We're in for a very interesting year."

 

* * *

 

"Sparky!  C'mon, wait up!"  Steve called out anxiously as Darcy continued to speed walk across the sprawling lawn that led towards the little patch of wilderness behind the school. 

 

There were wild and untamed bits of forest, and if you got past a quarter mile of fallen branches and jagged rocks, you were rewarded with a truly lovely little pond of glassy, shimmering water.  It was Darcy and Steve's favorite place.  Any given Friday night during the spring, summer or fall would find them with Bucky, and any variety of their shared friends accompanying them for a night of camping in their pup tent that Darcy's nana had bought them when they were five.  Bucky had gotten very good at learning how to build fires, as Steve refused to let the limitations of his body stop him from the camping, but he still needed to stay as warm as possible.

 

"Sparky!" Steve called out, wheezing as he had seriously been speeding to catch her as quickly as possible. 

 

Darcy stopped in her tracks at the sound of Steve's wheezing.  The very last thing she needed was for that incredible idiot to push himself into an asthma attack.  She reached into her tattered and patched messenger bag and dug around for his extra inhaler, her hand grasping around it just in case as she slowly turned to face him as he doggedly ran to her side.

 

"M'sorry," he panted as she winced at the impressive collection of bruises on his face.

 

She kept clutching the inhaler, even after his breathing evened out and they began moving again, walking side by side back to their cherished spot in companionable silence.  Steve kept stealing sidelong glances at Darcy.  She was very rarely so quiet around him.  Her big blue eyes looked puffy and bloodshot, as if she had been crying and his heart ached with the heavy responsibility of causing her tears.   He didn't mean to get into so many fights.  He just sort of fell into them. 

 

And there were certain things he wasn't willing to turn the other cheek for.  Any and all insults towards the girl walking by his side at the moment was one of the big reasons.  It was a natural response as he had done it often from the ages of three to eight.  Throwing fists at anyone who would dare try to hurt Darcy's feelings.  But then all of a sudden, Darcy was different.  She no longer got into situations that needed rescuing, and instead used all of her talent with words and persuasion in getting out of nasty situations.  And when that failed, she would just run.

 

For all that Steve knew about Darcy, he didn't know why.

 

Her nana had died when she was eight.  And she had spent two nights in the house with her aunt and uncle before they left three days later, and Darcy was put into the foster care system.  He remembered that day with picture perfect clarity. 

 

He and Bucky had been "fishing" in their little pond, despite the fact that the pond contained no more than tadpoles and minnows.  Darcy had stumbled onto the scene and crawled right into the pup tent and the sound of little sniffles and whimpers had sent both boys scrambling after her.

 

" _ Just tell me what’s wrong, Darce _ ," Bucky had begged her.

 

“ _ Who made you sad, Sparky _ ?" Steve had demanded over and over, his anger simmering, at a loss on how to help her if she didn't tell them who had made her cry. 

 

Steve looked over at the clearing where they usually put the pup tent and smiled to see that it was still erected from their campout with Bucky and Natasha last weekend.  Natasha had never had smores and Darcy had treated that as a world ending emergency.  He remembered being eight, in that pup tent that had seemed  a lot bigger at the time, with his little arms wrapped around Darcy as Bucky patted at her hair.  She hadn't told them then what had happened to change her.  And she had never told them. 

 

"I'm sorry," Steve said softly as they both sat down on a large smooth stone that looked out on the pretty water in the pond.

 

"You don't have to be sorry," Darcy shook her head.  "You were just--being you.  It's my deal, Steven."

 

"I'm still sorry," Steve insisted, his hand going for hers naturally and threading their fingers together.  He gave her a completely earnest look and said, "You were crying, and I hate---I hate that I made you cry."

 

"You didn't, I was scared," Darcy whispered.  "I'm always scared now."

 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Steve wondered.

 

"No.  Definitely not," Darcy shook her head, looking down as tears threatened again. 

 

He could see the glinting in her eyes and he didn't push.  He never pushed her if he could help it.  Natasha had never been impressed with Bucky and Steve's complete inability to get any important words out of Darcy.  And she had been even less impressed with how they made sure none of their other friends could harass her into talking about deep feelings.  In Steve's opinion, Darcy never deserved to be sad or crying, and he did everything he could to keep her as happy as possible. 

 

He loved her smile, after all. 

 

They stayed silent for at least ten minutes, their hands clinging together even when Steve's started to sweat a bit.  Darcy didn't seem to mind, the hot pressure of his hand was a grounding influence and eventually she took a deep breath, made sure to pull her lips upwards in a pretty believable smile and turned to Steve.

 

"So, what do you think is in store for us this year reallY?"

 

"Dunno," Steve shrugged.  "Seems pretty serious though.  I mean...they're paying us?"

 

"And if we wanted to go to the University of Hawaii, we totally could!" Darcy added.

 

"You don't like humidity," Steve reminded her.

 

"Okay, University of some kind of Parisian persuasion," Darcy shrugged.

 

"That sounds nice," Steve nodded.  "You could go to a fancy cooking school."

 

"And you could go to an art school," Darcy nodded.

 

"And Bucky could go to a Can-can dancer school," Steve smirked.

 

"Or be a test subject for a Parisian Lady of the Night training facility," Darcy laughed, the clear and tinkling sound of it was music to Steve's ear.

 

"Hey!" Bucky called out, ambling up lazily to the clearing, Natasha right on his heels.  "I'd volunteer for that test subject thing."

 

Natasha strode up to Steve and Darcy on their rock, casually pushed Steve to the left just far enough to push her way in between and sat down, putting an arm around Darcy.  She lay her cheek against Darcy’s cheek and squeezed at her as hard as she could.

 

“Sorry you were there to see the fighting,” Natasha whispered in her ear.  “Was your Steve nice to you?”

 

“I’m always nice,” Steve turning tomato red at the  _ your _ Steve part of Natasha’s words.  He tried to inch his way back on the rock, only to have Natasha push him completely off, having him land on his butt in the dirt and stones.  “Hey!”

 

Bucky was there to lift Steve back to his feet and wrapped his own arm around his best friend’s shoulders.  He gave Darcy a grin and a wink, and he took it in stride when she gave him her customary eye roll back.  Steve pushed Bucky’s arm off of him and looked down at the ground, his frown twisting his lips downward and a line appearing between his eyebrows.  He didn’t want to watch Bucky flirt with Darcy.  He knew it was only a matter of time before Darcy finally saw Bucky as what he was, which Steve had the good grace to know, was quite a catch.    And Bucky would have had to be stupid not to realize that Darcy was...well, Darcy was everything.

 

“I think after this very traumatic and trying afternoon, we should all go and treat ourselves to some ice cream,” Bucky announced, pushing his elbow into Steve’s bicep.  Ice cream was a magic cure all where Darcy was concerned.  Nothing could go wrong in her world when she had a double scoop of butter pecan. “Steve’s treat.”  

 

“Waffle cone?” Darcy wondered hopefully, giving Steve a small, cajoling smile.

  
“Whatever you want, Sparky,” Steve looked up with a soft look for her.  Bucky gave him another subtle push with his elbow and Steve stumbled forward, reaching his hand out for Darcy, who took it and tried not to wince at how he strained when he pulled her up.  

 

Bucky gave Natasha a smirk and held out his own hand.  She avoided it and hopped to her feet, going straight for Darcy again, taking the slightly shorter girl’s arm in hers.  They began the slow and enjoyable walk from their little secluded spot of wilderness towards the parking lot where Bucky’s battered old pickup truck was waiting for them.  Both boys graciously held the doors open for the ladies, and in Steve’s case the sentiment was kind and genuine.  In Bucky’s case, it was exaggerated and silly and he used Natasha’s climbing into the tall truck as an excuse to check out her backside.  

 

“If you look at my ass like that again, I will murder you in your sleep,” Natasha gave him a sleekly arched eyebrow.  

 

“Don’t threaten him with that,” Steve sighed as he climbed in after Darcy, shutting the passenger door  behind him.  “He’ll just be happy that you’ll be in his bedroom, killing him won’t matter.”

 

Bucky grinned and hopped up into the truck effortlessly, causing the other three people on the bucket seat to smash their bodies together.  Steve gripped the door handle as Darcy’s soft thigh pressed against his.  They’d driven like this hundreds of times in the two years since Bucky got his license, and Steve never got over the sensation of being so impossibly close to Darcy.  The only thing better would be having her completely in his lap with his arms wrapped around her.

 

He tried to banish those kinds of thoughts as Bucky clearly pressed closer to Natasha, causing a chain reaction of smooshing body parts, and Darcy had no choice but to wind her arm around Steve’s back, and he reflexively put his arm around her shoulders.

 

Natasha made that pleased noise again and Darcy turned to glare at her, dark brown curls swishing in Steve’s face.  Natasha watched in gleeful satisfaction as Steve  _ sniffed _ at Darcy’s hair and the pleased noise grew louder.  

 

“So, what do you really think of the teams?” Darcy wondered, hoping that a little conversation would make the short five minute drive a little easier.  “Don’t sugar coat it, either.  I know that I’m a liability.”

 

“Sparky, come on, you’re just as smart as anyone else on the team,” Steve disputed.

 

“Jane and Helen and Stark are on our team, Steven,” Darcy disputed.

 

“And not one of them has a lick of common sense,” Steve reminded her.  “If anyone is the weak link here, it’s me.”

 

“Shut your pie hole!” Darcy squeaked, turning to stare down Steve with fierce determination.  “You’re clever and brave and good and--”

 

“You and Steve are not the weak links,” Natasha cut her off.  Because she knew her friends and she knew that Steve and Darcy could get into a very long back and forth about just how awesome the other was.   “If you have to pick one, then Stark is the weak link.  We all bring something different to the table, and one person’s attributes aren’t necessarily better or worse than another’s.”

 

Bucky  reached down and gripped Natasha’s thigh before he took a usually easy turn in a particularly wicked way.  Natasha stayed put on the seat, but Darcy slid so violently that she was smashing Steve into the door.  Another turn and Steve was sliding into Darcy and somehow Steve managed to have half a lap full of Darcy as his hands clung to the soft swells of her hips.  

 

“Sorry,” Darcy breathed out.  “Didn’t mean to squish you.”

 

“Don’t be,” Steve shook his head, his right thumb making a slow circle on the small path of warm, bare skin between Darcy’s jeans and her top..  “Sorry, that is.”

 

Natasha made her pleased sound before turning to flash Bucky a happy smirk.  She would have two of her most favorite people well on their way to happily ever after in no time.  She looked down and realized that Bucky’s hand was still on her own thigh.  He gave her a lazy grin and a gentle squeeze before taking his hand away and pulling into the parking lot for the old fashioned ice cream and soda shoppe.  

 

He had barely put the old truck in park before a loud buzzing noise  echoed down from up above them.  Bucky poked his head out of the window to look up for a brief second before quickly coming back into the truck and grabbing for Natasha, pushing her down and covering her.  Steve was quick to follow his lead as the buzzing grew louder and more ominous, placing Darcy’s head against his chest and shielding her between the seat and his body as best as he could.  

 

The sound of metal against metal crashing and screeching against each other echoed throughout the early summer night.  Darcy made a tiny squawking noise as the truck bounced and jostled from the impact of  _ something _ hitting it.  Steve held her tight, not letting her peek to see what it was.

 

“Are you alright?” he whispered in her ear.   He felt her nod against his chest and he took a breath of relief before looking over at Bucky.  “All right, Buck?  Nat?”

 

“Fine,” Bucky nodded, sitting up right and looking out through the spiderweb cracks in his front window to see a smoking hunk of metal junk imbedded into the hood of his truck.   “Son of a bitch.”

 

“Stark,” Natasha grumbled, hopping over Bucky’s lap and getting out of the car.  She spun in a circle, before seeing her target, stalking over to the slightly older boy who was sourly looking down at a set of controls.  She batted the useless remote control out of his hands before reaching out and gripping his shoulder in such a way that had him immediately on his knees.  “What were you thinking?  You could have hurt us!”

 

“Nah, there’s no fuel in there, just hydro power,” Tony insisted.

 

“When you crash a large piece of metal against another large piece of metal, chances are, someone might get hurt,” Natasha flicked her wrist, causing Tony to cry out in pain.

 

“Easy there, kitten,” Bucky murmured, looking back at the truck where Steve was checking every inch of Darcy over for injury.  “No need to fight.  Stark knows he was careless, and  _ stupid _ for testing his awful machines out in public.  And he  _ will  _ be using his weekly allowance for all the repairs to ole Bessie.”

 

“I could use one sixteenth of my weekly allowance to buy you a brand new truck,” Stark waved his hand in dismissal.  “But you should  _ really _ let me build you a new truck.  I have these ideas for a---ow, ow OW!”

 

“You can pay for the repairs,” Bucky insisted as Natasha continued to manhandle the Stark heir. 

 

“Fine, I’ll do the repairs,” Tony nodded.  He winced in pain as Natasha did something wicked with her nails.  “I’ll pay for the repairs.  I’ll just pay for them.  OW.  And...and also buy your ice cream?”

 

Natasha finally let go and immediately went to Darcy and Steve, checking them over carefully.

 

“I’m going to get the fifty-two scoop bucket of ice cream,” Natasha said calmly.  “I would recommend we get four of them.”

 

“Uhm...I can’t eat that much ice cream,” Darcy shook her head.

 

“That’s alright.  I’ll call Thor.”

 

* * *

 

Tony watched in amusement as his new teammates converged around entire bucketfuls of ice cream.  He had gotten a smoothie, full of kale and nutrients and other disgusting things, the ladies at the ice cream counter called it the  _ Tony Special _ , and had declared it the nastiest thing they had ever made.  

  
  


"Cookies and cream---wait, no, the mint chocolate chip is the best," Sam Wilson declared as he handled a spoon in each hand, shoveling ice cream into his mouth at an alarming rate.

  
  


"I didn't know you were ambidextrous, Wilson," Stark called out, cringing slightly when the entire crew that Bucky had called to the shop stopped their happy, inane chatter about which ice cream flavor was the best to stare at him.  Oh.  Right.  He hadn't spoken to anyone since they had entered the establishment.

  
  


"He is when it comes to food," Darcy laughed.  She and Steve were doing their very best to pick through all the buckets for their favorite flavors.  They only had to get Thor's bucket from him to steal out the butter pecan and rocky road.  But Thor was bent over his bucket, his large arms set up a defensive parameter around it as he eagerly ate as much as he could, as quickly as he could.  

  
  


"He'll use both hands for OTHER things too," Bucky nudged Steve in his midsection, causing the smaller young man to choke on a spoonful of marshmallow and chocolate.  

  
  


"That's weird that you know that," Helen rolled her eyes.  "Is that something you boys do in the locker room?  Or at your sleepovers?"

  
  


"They're not sleepovers, they're RAGERS," Clint corrected Helen with petulant annoyance.

  
  


"Sure sure, ragers," Helen smirked.  "Your last rager entailed watching a Disney movie marathon."

  
  


"ROGERS YOU SHIT!" Barton hollered to the farthest table from him.  "Keep your trout mouth shut!"

  
  


"I didn't tell her that!" Steve defended himself.

  
  


"No, but you told Darce, and she told the girls," Clint accused.  "You gotta keep the aura of male mystique, man.  You can't go telling your ball and chain everything."

  
  


"I am not his ball or his chain!" Darcy disputed around a mouthful of butter pecan she had pilfered from Sam's bucket.  She gave an apologetic look to a blushing Steve before she turned back to Clint, "And besides, he didn't tell me, I was THERE."

  
  


"Oh right, I forgot," Clint nodded.  He pointed at her shrewdly, "Stop telling our manly secrets, or we will punish you appropriately."

  
  


"You'll WHAT now?" Steve threw a spoon full of pistachio at Clint's head at the same time that Bucky threw a whole napkin dispenser at Clint as well.

  
  


"This is fascinating," Tony said aloud, looking between all his technical classmates.   He pointed between Bucky, Steve and Darcy.  "You know that there's a betting pool out there in the junior class about how that all works out.  You know...with the excess of swords in the dungeon area.  I feel like I'm getting insider information here."

  
  


"We're friends," Darcy furrowed her brow.

  
  


"Oh yeah, sure, friends, I've heard about those," Tony nodded sagely.  He took a pull off of his awful smoothie and shuddered.  "But what I'm seeing more closely resembles one of those awesome eighties movies with Molly Ringwald and some kind of hunk.  This is all very  _ Pretty in Pink _ ."

  
  


"I have no idea what he's talking about," Bucky shrugged at a similarly confused Steve.  He looked down at the bucket that Darcy and Steve had picked their favorites out of and said, "This is mine now? I can have the extra peanuts put on now, yes?"

  
  


"Yeah, go nuts," Steve simultaneously rolled his eyes at himself while chuckling at his own corniness.  

  
  


"Are you lactose intolerant?" Darcy questioned of Tony.  

  
  


"I'm a perfect human specimen," Tony scoffed.

  
  


"If you're so perfect, why are you drinking THAT instead of eating ice cream?" Darcy wondered.  

  
  


"Jarvis keeps me on an optimum meal plan," Tony shrugged.  "It helps keep my brain going."

  
  


"You know what keeps my brain going?" Steve very carefully eased his spoon around one of Thor's beefy biceps to grab a spoonful of butter pecan, handing it over to Darcy.  She had snuck into Sam's bucket at the same time and traded him her spoon, which was full of rocky road.  They switched spoons and he hummed happily as the decadent, super sweet ice cream melted on his tongue.  "Sugar.  You should try it some time."

  
  


Darcy reached for a fresh plastic spoon from the middle of their table and dug into Natasha, Jane and Helen's tub of ice cream, before beckoning for Tony to come close, ridiculously surprised when he actually did.  She shoved the amalgamation of chocolate, cookie dough and coffee swirl into his mouth and grinned when something sparked in Tony's eyes.

  
  


"Stark, have you ever had processed sugar before?  High fructose corn syrup?" Natasha wondered as Bucky returned to the table he had been sharing with Darcy and Steve.

  
  


"Probably not," Tony shrugged, taking the spoon and going right into Bucky's bucket, and stabbing his spoon into a scoop of ice cream.  "Woah.  This tastes like my birthday!"

  
  


"Oh.  Great," Natasha sighed heavily.  She usually had her hands full keeping everyone alive on a normal day.  Now they were all sugared out, PLUS she had Tony Stark, brilliant heir to the Stark fortune about to experience his very first sugar high.  She looked at Darcy with an unimpressed look, as the girl continued to point out more flavors for Stark to taste.  "Darcyloo, you are in charge of cleaning up the vomit on this one."

 

"Ugh.  Gross."

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments. It's absolutely crazy that anyone clicked on the link to read this, but I'm so happy that they did!!


	3. Performance Anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So did everyone see Civil War? I saw a tweet from the walking Dorito stating that anyone who watched it twice gets a something nice.
> 
> What happens when you've see in it three times? What do I get????

**Chapter Three: Performance Anxiety**

* * *

  
  


“So...the training starts now?”

 

Bruce Banner looked up at the eager group of high school seniors from his place behind the desk.  Darcy had been their spokesperson, and her look matched everyone else’s.  Eager.  Excited.  Wary.  It was a curious blend, but Dr. Banner had seen worse looks on their faces, so he wasn’t about to complain.

 

“Actually...we have a test first,” he grimaced as the dozen students all erupted into a chorus of groans and harsh curse words.  “We just want to make sure you’re in the right place.  We may need to switch a few people as time goes by.”

 

“So the classes aren’t permanent?” Sam furrowed his brow.

 

“So Rhodey and Pepper and Happy could come over to my class?” Stark wondered.

 

“It’s possible.  You were sorted into your classes based off of your files on record,” Dr. Banner nodded.  “And while your guidance counselors have kept your files meticulous since you entered the school district, we all know that a person can change in the blink of an eye.”

 

“We didn’t get to study!” Jane whined, her face scrunched up in annoyance.

 

“It’s not fair!” Helen chorused, fairly twitching at the unfairness of it all.

 

“You’ll be fine, Janie and Hells,” Darcy promised.  She squirmed in her seat though.  She was a notoriously awful test taker.  Mr. Coulson, the head guidance counselor for the high school had tried to teach her relaxation tips and tricks in order to have her scores reflect what he called  _ her untapped potential _ , but nothing had worked so far.  

 

“There are no wrong answers,” Dr. Banner promised as he passed each student a sheet of paper with print on both sides.

 

“That’s a load of bull, and you know it,” Tony scoffed.  “There is always a right answer.  I usually have it.”

 

“Except when the question is  _ Are you humble _ ?” Natasha rolled her eyes.  

 

“Anybody got a pencil?” Clint asked blearily from the back seat in the classroom.  He was separated from the rest of the class by three empty rows of desks, his hand holding on to a sixty-four ounce jug of coffee.  Clint was the farthest thing from a morning person.

Eight pencils went flying at Clint’s head, the first one caught firmly in his hand even with his eyes still tightly closed, while the other seven clattered against his forehead and shoulders.  

 

“Thank,” he huffed.

 

“So tired, he can’t even pronounce the ‘s’, that’s a new low for him,” Bucky chuckled.  

 

“Alright, get to it, and bring your tests up to me when you’re finished,” Dr. Banner advised.  “This should only take about a half an hour.”

 

Steve looked down at his paper, reading over all of the questions carefully before nodding.  He scribbled his name at the top right corner of the paper along with a one word answer beneath it before getting up and giving Dr. Banner his paper.   
  


Darcy’s eyes bugged out of her head when Steve returned to his desk.  That had been ten seconds, tops.  She knew Steve was a quick reader and had lightning fast mental processes, but still.   _ Ten seconds _ ?  That was just unfair.  She read through her test quickly, wondering if this was one of those tests that had the instruction at the bottom that told her to write her name and hand it in without answering anything.

 

No such luck.  She had ten questions that required written responses.  

 

_ What would you do if you were faced with choosing between helping a friend or helping ten strangers? _

 

_ How would you help a person in pain? _

 

_ Is it better to act first and ask questions later, or carefully plan a response? _

 

Darcy chewed at her bottom lip anxiously and began scribbling out her thoughts as quickly and coherently as she could.  She seriously doubted she could get through all the questions in half an hour.  Her dread only increased when Bucky stood up and handed in his paper, causing Helen and Jane to squeak out identical sounds of worry as their pencils began flying over the paper as quickly as possible.  

 

Seriously.  Darcy wondered if the paper was flame resistant.  It should have started on fire by now with how quickly the girls were writing.  

 

Thor was next to hand in his paper, throwing an earnest, encouraging smile Darcy’s way as she stared at him blankly, trying to organize her thoughts.  

 

Jane slammed down her pencil and rushed the paper to Dr. Banner with ten minutes to spare, barely edging Clint out, which Darcy was thankful for.  She didn’t want to hear Jane’s devastation over being beaten by Clint.  It was bad enough she could hear the start of Helen beginning to hyperventilate.  Sam went to get up from his chair and the death glare that Helen threw his way was so fierce that he dropped his pencil and froze in place, waiting very patiently until Helen worked out the last question on her evaluation and rushed it up to Dr. Banner.  Sam still waited a full two minutes after Helen returned to nod her way, then get up and turn in his own paper.

 

Darcy tried her best to focus on her own paper as the two other classmates who she didn’t know that well turned in their papers.  And suddenly it was just her, Tony and Natasha left.  Tony was leaning back in his chair, not touching his paper, and actually looked to be  _ napping _ a little.  Natasha was idly writing on her paper, every once in a while sneaking a peek at Darcy, who was staring at question ten in terrified confusion.

 

_ How do you deal with feelings of being overwhelmed? _

 

Darcy bit at her bottom lip violently and shook her head as she re-read the question over and over again.  How did anyone deal with feelings of being overwhelmed?  Mostly they were just overwhelmed, so it would probably take a very clear headed person to actually  _ deal _ with those feelings.  

 

She ran away from things that made her uncomfortable.  She did her best damned impression of an ostrich and shoved her head into the sand.  That’s how she dealt with being overwhelmed.  She wanted to do that right now.  Turn in her stupid evaluation, unfinished, demand to be taken out of this whole program and go back to being a normal high school student.  

 

“You’re alright, Sparky,” Steve murmured behind her, one long finger wrapping around the end of her ponytail and twirling it gently.  

 

She blinked and realized that her half hour was up, and Dr. Banner was retrieving Tony’s paper as the young man refused to get out of his chair.  Natasha handed hers to him and threw Darcy a small, reassuring smile.  

 

She scribbled two words down on the paper before handing it to a patiently waiting Dr. Banner with a sinking feeling.

 

_ How do you deal with feelings of being overwhelmed? _

 

She had answered simply.   _  I don’t. _

 

She put her head on her desk, realizing that she was about to get kicked out of the program.  She wouldn’t be apart of whatever special Tri-wizardy tournament the others would.  She’d be put back into a normal classroom, away from all of her friends.  Away from Steve.  

 

“Take a breath there, sweetheart,” Steve’s low, gravelly voice was barely audible behind her, but she listened to it, realizing that she was very close to hyperventilating.  He had abandoned twirling her hair in favor of letting his index finger run a line up and down the top of her back, trying to provide her with some kind of grounding reassurance.  

 

“Tests suck,” she turned her head and gave him a small smile.

 

“Yeah,” Steve nodded.

 

Dr. Banner looked at the students in his care and was unsurprised to see that Darcy’s jitttery anxiety was bleeding into the others behavior.  Even Tony was bouncing his leg up and down under his desk as his dark eyes darted all over the classroom.

 

“Okay, I need to get these to guidance so they can be looked over,” Dr. Banner announced.  “I’ll show you guys to your break room on the way.  It’s just a little place you can go to decompress between classes.  Mini-field trip, guys, c’mon.  Up and at them.”

 

* * *

 

 

Dr. Bruce Banner was a lying liar that lied and lied and lied some more.

 

It was not just a little place that they could go to decompress between classes.  It was a large space, big enough for all twelve students plus a few more, and it was absolutely amazing.

 

“Holy moley,” Bucky breathed out.  

 

“Shit yes!  PS4!” Clint crowed as he ran to the multimedia center that was set up in front of a bunch of overstuffed, deep seated couches.  He grabbed a pair of drumsticks and held them up victoriously, “ROCK BAND! NAT!  ROCK BAND!”

 

“Yay, I’m so happy for you,” Natasha muttered in a droll, monotone voice.  “Less happy for my ears.”

 

“Snacks!” Sam called out happily from the kitchenette on the other side of the room.  Three giant stainless steel refrigerators stood side by side and were all filled to the brim with all sorts of foodstuffs.  He held up a case of peanut butter and jelly sandwich pockets, “Darcyloo, they have your favorite!”

 

“Awesome,” Darcy breathed out, turning in a circle to see the extent of the room.  She tried not to feel bitter.  This space wouldn’t be open to her once Dr. Banner brought the tests back and declared her inclusion into the Yingley games a mistake.  

 

“It’s like they thought of everything,” Steve said in wonderment as he, Tony and Thor looked over the trio of drafting tables.  Two of them were well stocked with art supplies, the high end kind that Steve only got on his birthday and at Christmastime from Bucky and Darcy.  The other was filled with blank blueprint pages, mechanical pencils and every kind of ruler you could imagine, and was obviously for Tony, who was already seated at the desk and sketching something out.

 

“They did think of everything,” Bucky nodded, sitting down at an upright piano in the far corner of the room, cracking his fingers before starting to play a gentle melody.  He grinned at Natasha and shrugged, “How about a song, Red?”

 

“If she’s singing, it’s for Rock band!” Clint called out.  

 

“This is some serious Hogwarts shit,” Helen shook her head as she and Jane looked over the perfectly full bookcases lining the walls closest to the big bay windows on one side of the room.  

 

“Fuck right,” Jane nodded.  She grinned, reaching for a Harry Potter book on the top shelf and frowned when it didn’t pull out.  Instead, she heard a clicking noise.  “Guys!  Guys!  Secret room!”

 

Steve was somehow quicker than anyone else in the room, rushing over to the bookshelf that Jane had managed to open.  He was first  through the secret door and let out a whistle of surprise.

 

“This is a helluva  lot more than just a break room,” Steve called out.

 

He walked down a long, brightly lit corridor, the sounds of his footsteps echoing on the dark hardwood floor.  The walls were warm and richly painted with dark browns and reds and every ten feet or so there was an impressive oak door with a peephole, a heavy brass knocker and a blank brass name plate.  He reached out for one of the shiny doorknobs and pushed frowning when it didn’t open.  He tried each door though, the rest of his friends coming into the hallway with him, following his lead and trying to open every door.  

 

His eyebrows shot up his forehead when he reached the end of the hall and finally had some success on the very last door.  When he looked in, his mouth fell open in shock.  It was a large and well decorated bedroom, the walls a soft ivory with accents of navy blue and little hints of red all over.  If he had unlimited money, the bedroom he shared with Bucky back at the Barnes household would certainly look like this.  He marveled at the sturdy, beautiful wooden furniture, his eyes lingering on the king sized sleigh bed, perfectly made up with fluffy pillows and a warm looking comforter.  He walked around the room, his hands reaching out for a framed picture on the nightstand, his breath catching when he saw that it was a picture of him, Darcy and Bucky from their first day of high school.  

 

“Steven!” Darcy shouted from next door.

 

He carefully put the picture down and was off like a rocket, rushing into the room Darcy had opened.  The walls were painted a lovely, sunshiney yellow, and Steve noticed that the artwork on the walls was his own.  Sketches and watercolors that he had done for art class in school were expertly framed and hung on each wall surface.  There was a bed with a white canopy, looking just as cozy and inviting as the bed in  _ his  _ room.  

 

Darcy turned to him, bewildered and a little frightened, holding up a stuffed bunny rabbit that had seen better days.  

 

“What’s Mr. Flip Flop doing here?” Bucky questioned from the doorway.  

 

“He was in my bed this morning,” Darcy whispered, cuddling the stuffed animal that had been a gift to her from her parents at her birth, before they passed away.  The bunny had seen better days, but he had been her constant companion since birth.  Although she didn’t drag him everywhere like she used to, she still slept with him every night.  

 

“Okay, there is something these people aren’t telling us, because the door that opened for me has my underwear in the dresser,” Jane stomped into Darcy’s room.  She furrowed her brow at the stuffed animal that Darcy was clinging to.  “How’d Mr. Flip Flop get out of my house?”

 

Darcy shrugged.  

 

“Do you think---are we meant to live here?” Steve wondered.  

 

“I don’t want to live here,” Jane shook her head.  “No offense, but I like living with my parents.  They do my laundry for me.  It’s awesome.”

 

“Non-stop ragers!” Clint fist pumped as he ran from his room towards Natasha’s.  

 

“Sleepovers!” Helen corrected him.

 

“Let’s go and talk to Dr. Banner,” Steve suggested.  “We need some answers.”

 

“I have a feeling I have some answers, and not just because I’m  _ way  _ more brilliant than the rest of you,” Tony announced from the doorway to Darcy’s room.  The perfection of everyone’s rooms.  The extravagance of the furnishings.  The secrecy surrounding their personal effects finding their way to the school in a matter of hours.  This all stank with his father’s influence and wallet.  

 

“What’s your answer?” Sam furrowed his brow.

 

“Jarvis?  You there buddy?” Tony’s eyes went up to the ceiling.

 

“Indeed, Sir.  Do you require assistance?” a smooth, cultured British-accented voice answered back calmly.

 

“Yeah, my Dad did this,” Tony nodded.  “I’d really like to know why.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that everyone is enjoying this. Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Logistically Speaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration struck for this one. : )

 

**Chapter Four: Logistically Speaking**

 

* * *

 

 

"I don't think you understand, Sir.  I sleep walk, I'm not meant to live with other people like this."

  
  


"I can't do my own laundry.  I can't be trusted.  You should know this, Principal Fury."

  
  


"I'm offended that I don't have my own floor to myself.  This is a SERIOUS downgrade in living space."

  
  


"Can we have all night Ragers?  What's the house rules on underage drinking?  Cause I know a guy."

  
  


Principal Fury looked to an unapologetic Bruce Banner.  If he wasn't mistaken, the educator had the hint of a smirk on his face.  This was way ahead of the time table.  The assembled high school seniors were all in some sort of argumentative, agitated state in his office, at barely nine in the morning.  He looked to Darcy Lewis, who was biting her thumb nail as she watched her friends spout out all the reasons why they shouldn't have to live at the school.

 

"Are you going to do something about this, Miss Lewis?" Principal Fury wondered softly.

  
  


Natasha stiffened slightly beside her and gave their Principal a curious look before looking to Darcy with a soft look of encouragement.

  
  


"What did you want me to do?" Darcy wondered, completely dumbstruck.  She stopped biting her nail and waved her hands around.  "Abracadabra, all fixed?"

  
  


Fury gave her a raise of his eyebrow and she sighed before bringing her fingers to her lips and making a very loud whistling sound.  It hadn't been the first time she had had to get everyone's attention.  Far from it.  They'd made it to the second day of kindergarten before their very overwhelmed teacher lost control of the little five year old terrors and had started to cry.  Darcy had done the whistle and for some reason, even the most rambunctious of her friends (Jane at the time), had gone stock still and looked to her for instruction.  Five-year-old Darcy had helpfully pointed to Steve, who set up a fun game of hide and go seek.

  
  


"If we all stopped talking over each other, we might be able to hear the explanation," Darcy reasoned.

  
  


"Ugh, logic," Tony rolled his eyes.  "Everyone start talking again, chaos with you people is a lot of fun!"

  
  


"We were going to tell you at the end of the day, after the results from your evaluation were calculated," Principal Fury began.  "You have to understand, that being involved in the Yingley Games means you have  a highly intensive training program.  This has been discussed with your parents and legal guardians and it is agreed that you should all be living here, so as not to disrupt your work."

  
  


"All of us are 18, some of us are older," Helen pointed to Tony obnoxiously.  "You have no say in where we live."

  
  


Darcy shuffled her feet.  She had yet to switch over to the magic number.  Steve caught her awkwardness.  Technically Darcy was a foster child, a ward of the state.  She had to go wherever they told her to go.  Steve at least had been adopted by Mrs. Barnes, so he had a real home.

  
  


"Do we still get to go home?" Steve spoke up.  "To see our parents?"

  
  


"Your families have scheduled daily visit time with all of you, they've reorganized their lives to accommodate what is to come," Fury advised them.  "I don't think any of you truly grasp how important the Yingley games are.  They've been played three times in the modern world.  Your lives will forever be affected by these events.  Your parents and guardians understand this."

  
  


"It feels an awful lot like we're being held prisoner," Sam said thoughtfully.  He looked to Tony and shrugged, "A really swanky prison, but still...scheduled visits?  Staying at the school all the time?"

  
  


"Is the other team staying too?" Steve wondered.  He didn't like the idea of sharing close quarters with Rumlow and his lackies.

  
  


"Not at the moment," Banner answered.  "Separate quarters will be provided once we get closer to the Winter Solstice, but at this time, it's unnecessary."

  
  


"What makes us so special?  I mean, I know what makes me so special, but what makes them so special?" Tony wondered.  "And why wouldn't you put Rhodey and Pepper in my group?  I don't get it."

  
  


"The testing has them in their group for now," Fury answered.  "Your results show that you should be in this group.  For now."

  
  


"What if we want out?" Natasha asked seriously.  

  
  


"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that," Fury sighed.  At that moment, Hill came in with the additional paperwork.  "But we'll see if any of you should be switched out."

  
  


Darcy fidgeted in place as the results from their earlier test were handed to the Principal.  He opened the file folder quickly and read through the results.  She had tanked the test.  She just knew it.  And sure, this whole, living at school thing seemed strange, but she knew that once they all got over their initial trepidation, they would find a way to make it fun.  Except now they would do it without her, because she was getting her ass kicked to the curb.

  
  


"Sitwell, Vice Principal Hill needs to speak with you outside," Fury announced before closing the file folder.  He waited until the young man that Darcy really didn't know all that well walked out before looking at the rest of the students.  "I can see that the rest of this day isn't going to be very productive.  Dr. Banner, give them their first project to start working on."

  
  


"Right," Bruce nodded, reaching down for his briefcase and pulling out a bunch of folders.  He handed each out to a specific student.  "This is sort of like a group project."

  
  


Jane made a perplexed fish face and shared a look with Helen, who seemed equally as disturbed at the lack of instruction they had just received.  They both turned to face the other super nerd in the room, but Tony seemed nonplussed...almost bored.  

  
  


"You're dismissed to your quarters," Fury advised.  "I'll see you all at the track tomorrow morning for your detention."

  
  


"Hold on, wait a minute, you're HOLDING us at school twenty-four hours a day," Darcy argued. The last thing she wanted to be doing on a Saturday morning was RUNNING around a track.  "Isn't that the very definition of detention?"

  
  


The entire group of students immediately agreed and began chiming in with similar arguments.  Dr. Banner gave Darcy a little, proud smile before looking to Fury expectantly.  

 

"Fine.  Enjoy your weekend."

 

Sam rolled his eyes blatantly, almost daring the principal to take offense.  "In school prison."

  
  


* * *

 

  
  
  


While the rest of their new roommates went about spending the rest of their Friday exploring their new surroundings (playing video games/jumping on beds/rebuilding any and all available electronics), Darcy and Steve had settled in the kitchen area, with everyone's folders collected in front of them.  

  
  


Darcy pulled out a tray of cookies, and no sooner than she had them on the cooling rack, did they magically disappear.  

  
  


"So, what do we got, boss?" Sam wondered of Steve as he shoved an entire chocolate chip cookie into his mouth.  His eyes widened as he realized that they had JUST come out of the oven and he whined and flapped his arms around in agony.  

  
  


Helen handed him a glass of cold milk before delicately blowing on her own cookie and looking to Darcy and Steve with interest.

  
  


While Darcy hadn't done much deciminating of the folders, she had been the one to collect them from everyone and hand them off to Steve while she went about baking his favorite kinds of brain foods.  He would need some kind of sugar to figure this out.  Each folder contained a single sheet of paper with one line of nonsensical text on each.  There may be a lot of downright geniuses in the room, but when it came to riddles and strategy, no one did better than Steve.  

  
  


"Are there more cookies?  I wanted there to be more cookies," Tony looked at the empty cooling rack.  His first foray into sugar had been just the night before, but obviously, he had been converted nicely.  He really liked the sugar.  He pointed at Darcy and demanded, "More cookies, Boobs.  You had one job."

  
  


"HEY!" Steve glared at Tony, standing up from his stool, not even phased by the fact that in doing so, he was now a few inches shorter than Tony.  He pointed his own finger at Tony and grumbled lowly, "You treat her with respect, Stark, or you and I are going to have a problem."

  
  


"Ugh, chivalry," Tony sighed heavily.  "I'm not sexually attracted to your betrothed, Rogers.  She's a fetus.  Calm down.  It was meant as a fun nickname and not in a derogatory way at all."

  
  


"Boobs is not an appropriate nickname," Steve insisted, the faintest hint of a blush on the bridge of his nose.  It might have been an appropriate nickname.  Steve was very aware of how glorious Darcy's chest was.  Intensely aware ever since it had happened at the age of thirteen.  But still, as nice as they were, she was so much more than that.  And Tony DEFINITELY didn't need to be looking at them in any way.  

  
  


"Short and stacked?" Tony wondered hopefully.

  
  


"My actual name is shorter than that, what kind of nickname is that?" Darcy rolled her eyes, pulling out another cookie sheet and scooping up hot cookies for the cooling rack.  She gave Sam a bewildered look as the man immediately scooped one off the rack and shoved it in his mouth again, having forgotten the insanely hot cookie he had just eaten.  

  
  


"She has a nickname," Natasha supplied helpfully.  "Sparky."

  
  


"Oh right, she electrocuted me once," Tony nodded.  "Good times, Lady Sparks-a-lot."

  
  


Darcy gave Steve a deeply unimpressed look, clearly blaming him for the nickname of Sparky.  He shrugged and reached for a cookie again, eating it around his grin aimed her way.  

  
  


"So yeah, what do you have there, Team Captain?" Tony wondered, looking down at the sheets that Steve had set up on the large kitchen island.  

  
  


"It's coded," Steve admitted.  "I'm trying to set up the papers in a way where the words make sense.  I'm thinking that we read a word off each paper and we'll get coherent directions.  It's just---eleven pages, and a lot of combinations, and my eyes are starting to hurt."

  
  


"Brilliant, yeah.  Yeah. Gimme those," Tony nodded, grabbing the papers and holding them up to the nearest surveillance camera in the common room.  "Jarvis, buddy, scan these in, and go by Captain Rogers' thought process, spit back the ones that make the most sense."

  
  


"Woah," Bucky looked at Tony with no small amount of amazement.  "Your computer dude can do all that?"

  
  


"And loads more.  I've been working on Jarvis since I was six," Tony shrugged nonchalantly.  "He's the very best artificial intelligence out there."

  
  


"Thank you, sir," Jarvis replied.

  
  


"Welcome, dude," Tony held up two thumbs at the camera.

  
  


"Can we program him to read me bedtime stories?" Sam wondered hopefully.  "I mean, not that I need a bedtime story.  Just seems...like that'd be something soothing.  In a British voice.  When---you know, you're a little sleepy and need a little assistance in getting to sleep."

  
  


"You dillweed, it's called whacking it.  That helps me sleep a lot," Clint called out from the den area where he was starting his second straight hour of video game playing.  Apparently it took a lot of time to get your facial features right on an imaginary video game rockstar.  

  
  


"Huh," Tony looked around at the rest of his new compatriots.  Not one of the girls even blushed.  "You girls are really desensitized to this kind of rubbish, aren't you?"

  
  


"What?  Talking about masturbating?" Helen frowned.  "Everyone masturbates, Tony."

  
  


"I'm sorry---wait, what?" Tony blinked at her.

  
  


Natasha gave one eyebrow lift, one that each girl recognized easily.  Steve and Bucky shared a short, knowing smile before their eyes darted to each girl eagerly.

  
  


"I agree with Clint, there's nothing like a little whacking it before bed to get you sleepy," Jane offered.

  
  


"I like doing it before meals," Darcy supplied.  "It's good for digestion to rub one out before eating.  But you know, washing my hands after."

  
  


"I'm masturbating right now, and loving it," Helen impishly offered.

  
  


"We share a wall, Stark, so if you hear any bodies hitting the wall, fog horns or me shouting the words to  _ It's a small world after all _ ," Natasha smiled pleasantly at him, "then just feel free to ignore it.  I'm just taking things in hand."

  
  


Tony gaped at the girls like a fish before shaking himself from head to toe in a full body shiver.  He held up a hand and attempted to push words out of his mouth before stopping himself, holding up the other hand and nodding.

  
  


"I really thought living with you guys was going to be a drag, but I can see the fun benefits now," Tony admitted with a genuine smile.

  
  


"Congratulations, Stark, you just survived your first trolling by the ladies," Bucky patted him on his shoulder.  "And weren't they nice to have gone so easy on you the first time around?"

  
  


"Wait, what?" Tony wondered.  "It gets worse than ---than  _ it's a small world _ ?"

  
  


"Sir, not to interrupt this fascinating socialization, but I have a few options for your review."

 

“Okay, Jarv, hit me with them,” Tony asked as the rest of their crew minus, Clint, who was still messing around with the nose of his video game character.  

 

“ _ The orange wall to the right on the overnight train---” _

 

“I don’t think that one is right,” Steve interrupted.  “Jarvis, are there any that seem like a set of instructions?”

 

“Indeed.   _ The answers can be found. On Orange Street. Pack an overnight bag and say hello to to new friends before you train---” _

 

“Orange Street,” Darcy furrowed her brow.  “There aren’t any Orange Streets in Martinville.”

 

“ _ And catch a show _ ,” Jarvis finished.

 

“So---I think, that we’re going to be heading into the city,” Steve wagered.  

 

“Anybody got money for train tickets?” Bucky wondered.  

 

“Bus tickets?  Gross,” Tony shivered.  “I’ll handle transportation.  Don’t worry about it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, can I move on from the setup now and get into adventures?   
> Next stop...road trip!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


	5. Getting There is Half the Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I've been negligent with this story. I lost the muse on this one, but I think it might be back a little, so here is another chapter.

**Chapter Five: Getting There is Half the Fun**

* * *

 

 

"Would anyone care to explain what happened?"

 

Principal Fury was met with absolute silence from the assembled students in his office.  He took a deep breath and leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his desk, his chin in his hands as he took a moment to look over every single one of them.

 

Natasha looked particularly at ease, with not a hair out of place or single wrinkle in her clothing.  She shot a pleasant, though still sort of frightening smirk back at Fury and he quickly moved on. 

 

Clint, Sam and Bucky were all dressed in drag.  Sparkly strapless mini dresses.  Brightly colored pantyhose.  Ridiculously expensive looking wigs.  Smeared and messy makeup.

 

"Gentleman?" Fury looked at the trio. 

 

"If you wanna stare longer, it'll cost you," Bucky said flippantly.  Causing Sam and Clint to roll their eyes.

 

Fury said nothing, moving on to Jane, Helen and Tony, who were all dressed in dirty and disheveled coveralls.  The logo on the left breast of the uniform stated they worked for Stooge's Electrical, and each one had a name tag. 

 

Larry, Curly and Moe.

 

" _Gentleman_?" Fury repeated to the electrical trio.

 

"Got anything that needs fixing?" Helen asked casually.

 

Fury turned to Thor next.  The behemoth of an exchange student was in a tuxedo of all things, a tuxedo that had seen better days.  It was torn all over, and covered in black soot.  Thor was grinning from ear to ear, nonplussed by this failure of an interrogation.  He had been very bored since coming to this school and this country, and the only thing that had brightened his time was spending time at the Foster house with Jane and Darcy.  But the past thirty-six hours had been wholly entertaining, to say the least.

 

Fury rolled his eyes and skipped straight over the beaming eighteen year old and landed on Darcy and Steve instead.  The duo were wearing the simple black pants, white shirt and black bowtie of catering staff.  But that was hardly discernible as they also seemed to be coated head to toe in cake.

 

Steve was outright glaring at Fury, twitching in his seat in anger.  He opened his mouth to speak a few times, his eye twitching as his usually pale face turned more and more red as the seconds ticked by.  Fury cut his losses and went straight to Darcy, who was staring at Fury like he was a puzzle.

 

"Miss Lewis?" Fury wondered.  "Care to explain?"

 

"You gave us an assignment," Darcy shrugged.  "We completed the assignment as best as we could."

 

"I see that," Fury looked back over the students with a small shake of his head.  "Care to explain what happened?"

 

"We could have all gotten hurt, that's what happened!" Steve interrupted heatedly.  "What were YOU thinking, sending us out like that?  Is this some sort of game to you?  What if---"

 

"Your what if's are useless, seeing as nothing terrible happened to you," Fury answered calmly.

 

"There had to be a better way for you to obtain a useless file full of paper," Steve spat back at him.  Unconsciously he reached out for Darcy's hand, knowing that his harsh words to Fury were making her uncomfortable.  "If we're ever in danger like this again, if any harm comes to any of these people, we are going to have a problem."

 

"What Tiny Tim said," Tony agreed.  "Also, if you had a problem with the way we did things, why didn't you give us clearer instructions?"

 

"The instructions were to obtain a folder in a safe in a hotel room in New York City," Fury reminded them.  "Somehow, in your hands, it turned into the plot for a ridiculous heist movie.  Care to explain why?"

 

"Too many geniuses with their hands in the pot," Natasha answered easily.  "And you knew that would happen."

 

"I still don't know what exactly happened," Fury reminded them.  "It'd be awful good of someone to explain."

 

"Certainly, great leader of our school!" Thor announced.

 

"Someone else?" Fury wondered, getting a lot of wordless sass from the other students.  He finally gave up, looked to Thor and nodded.  "Continue, Thor."

 

"We had just received our assignment, and brilliant Steven had deciphered what we needed to do, but alas, how were we to make it to the great city of Newest York in such short order.  Luckily, our friend and classmate Mr. Stark is a man of great means.  And by that, he can easily steal a giant limousine bus from his company's fleet of cars!"

 

* * *

 

**_Thiry-six hours earlier_ **

 

"Boy, it would be nice to have a car to get us from Point A to Point B," Bucky sighed, give a long suffering side long glance at a completely oblivious Tony.  "I mean, I did have a truck that worked plenty proper.  If someone hadn't of dropped a half assed robot on it, that is."

 

"Ugh, like you could have fit all of us into that old clunker," Tony rolled his eyes.  "By the time I'm done with ole Bessie, you'll be thanking me---"

 

"Hold on, I thought that you were going to get someone else to fix it," Bucky reminded him.  "I don't need a fancy Stark version of my pickup truck. I just want a working truck."

 

"Sure sure, yeah, sure," Tony waved off his concerns. 

 

"I was NOT riding in the pickup bed of Bessie all the way to New York," Sam grumbled.  "Even if Darcy sat in Steve's lap, we'd barely manage to get all the girls up front in the cabin."

 

"Well never fear, beautiful dreamer," Tony smiled as a large, black limo style party bus pulled up to the school.  Happy Hogun hopped out of the driver's seat and looked at the group of people who Tony had with him. "Hey Happ.  This is the crew.  Crew, this is Happy."

 

"Believe it or not, we all actually know each other," Happy gave Tony an indulgent eye roll.  "You know, since we went to school together since we were five."

 

"I have not met you, strangely elderly fellow student!" Thor boomed out.  For Happy did, indeed look a little older than his eighteen years.  It wasn't really a big deal, and Happy was always the one to be able to go out and buy the liquor to replace in Tony's house with the expert fake ID he had in his wallet.

 

"All aboard!" Tony called out, grinning when Jane, Helen and Darcy clammered into the vehicle.  Five seconds later, booming, obnoxious 80's pop music began blaring from inside the vehicle and bright dancing lights went on.

 

"They're playing Never Gonna Give You up," Clint muttered to Steve, even as Thor threw his hands up in the air joyously and ran towards the bus.

 

"Yes, yes they are," Steve nodded at Clint.

 

"This is going to be the longest bus ride in the history of man," Clint sighed. 

 

"You're not wrong," Steve agreed, wincing when Natasha appeared behind both of them, smacking the backs of their heads and pushing them towards the bus.  Steve took her man handling in stride, but Clint glared at the red head.

 

"Dammit Natasha!  Keep hitting me in the head and I'm not going to be able to do simple math problems anymore."

 

"You can do simple math problems?" Tony smirked as he gestured his new teammates onto the bus.

 

"Fuck off, Stark."

 

* * *

 

**_Thirty-hours ago_ **

 

A normal four hour trip to New York City had taken six hours instead, due to frequent stops at random food places and a few bathroom breaks.  (Clint had destroyed the bathroom five minutes after getting on the bus.  Everyone else refused to go inside).  Happy had been a very obliging driver as he stopped whenever anyone would ask.

 

Jane absolutely needed Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.  So Happy pulled over at the next exit and tracked down a Dunkin Donuts for her.

 

Sam saw a sign that said "World's Best Pizza", so of course Happy would be more than happy to pull a u-turn and head on back to see if it was.  (It was not.)

 

Tony had shrieked in delight at seeing a fireworks store sign and Happy was obliging in driving twenty minutes off the route so that Tony could load up on helpful explosives.

 

"Happy?" Darcy asked sweetly as she sat down in the passenger seat.

 

"Hi Darcy," Happy grinned at her.

 

"I know you don't like saying no to anyone, but we're kind of on a schedule here, so if anyone should ask to stop anywhere, you point them to me, Natasha or Steve," Darcy advised him.

 

"But if Tony---"

 

"Especially if Tony asks," Darcy nodded. She gave Happy a genuine, encouraging smile and said, "Don't worry, we have your back here, Happy."

 

And they would have to.  In the next four hours, Tony requested:

 

*  To be let out to take a leak on the side of the road.

*  To be driven back home to grab his favorite tool box.

*  To stop at every Denny's he saw because he wanted to order a Rutti-Tutti-Fruity for 'funsies'

*  To stop so that he and Barton could go on the roof of the vehicle and 'test something out'

 

"NO TONY!" Darcy wagged her finger at the man who was at least two years older than her (or possibly more, Tony's age was something of a mystery to the other students).  "You absolutely cannot skateboard from behind the bus."

 

"Sir Sparks-a-lot, it's a HOVERBOARD, it's way cooler than a skateboard," Tony disputed.

 

Sam held up a hand and gave Darcy his best, most charming smile.  It might have worked if Steve hadn't of immediately tossed a pencil at his face.

 

"Yes, Sammy," Darcy nodded.

 

"Can I try the hoverboard out?" he wheedled expertly.

 

"We're here!" Happy announced before heading out of the vehicle to check in for them, as he was the only one who looked old enough to actually get a hotel room for the night.

 

"Oh thank sweet, merciful, fluffy baby Jesus," Darcy sighed as the rest of the crew quickly ran out of the bus to get towards the modest hotel that Steve had insisted on when Tony began making travel plans with JARVIS.  Tony had wanted to get the penthouse floor at the Four Seasons.  Instead, they were at a respectable family inn just outside of the city.  They had a big suite, with three little bedrooms and a nice common area with a little kitchenette. 

 

Steve nudged into her with his shoulder and gave her a small smile.

 

"We made it all in one piece, Sparky, I'd say that's one small victory," Steve admitted.

 

"LEWIS!" Clint shouted.  "CAN WE TAKE THE CAR AND GO GET A CASE OF BUBBLE BATH?  FOR REASONS."

 

Both Darcy and Steve huffed a big sigh before yelling out, "NO CLINT!"

 

* * *

 

**_Twenty-Six Hours Ago_ **

  
  


"Just one more, please?"

  
  


"Helen!  SLEEP!" Darcy ordered insistently.  

 

"But just one more, I don't fall asleep easily in strange surroundings, you know this, Darcy-loo," Helen reminded her, batting her eyelashes and making her face look innocent and cajoling.

 

"Sparky, just let her have another story," Steve said softly. 

 

They were all piled into the common area of their large suite.  Jane, Helen and Nat took up one couch, expertly splitting it so that all three petite women could get maximum comfort with taking up the smallest amount of space.  On the other serviceable couch was Darcy, Bucky and Steve.  Bucky was a lot less talented at taking up small amounts of space.  He was crowding into Steve, who in turn was crowding into Darcy.  Half an hour ago, they had given up on trying to be separate and Bucky had sprawled on one end of the couch while Darcy had crawled between Steve and the back of the couch at the other end, cuddling up to his back as the big spoon.

 

The rest of the boys in the crew were sprawled out with pillows and blankets on the floor.  Thor had actually taken the king sized mattress from one of the rooms and had laid it on the floor, and was taking up the entirety of it, even going so far as to actively keep Clint off of the bottom right corner of it.

 

"Thank you, Stevie," Helen did her little baby face at Steve.

 

Darcy's hands gripped at Steve's t-shirt on their own accord.  She bit at her bottom lip and turned her face so that it was smashed into the couch cushion as her mouth turned down into an angry little line.  She felt a push against her backside and let out a little squeak.

 

"BUCKY!  Hands off my ass!" she ordered.

 

"S'my toe, not my hands," Bucky corrected her patiently.

 

Steve's hand went to Darcy's that was gripping on to his t-shirt, holding him onto the couch and long fingers curled around her wrist.  

 

"I'm so confused," Tony muttered, pulling pillows around him to build himself a private little fort.  He wasn't used to sleeping in the same room as other people, either.  And sure, there was an unused king sized bed in a private bedroom a few feet away, but he felt that he should be right there, with this team his school had thrown him into.  He looked to Clint and gave a shrug.  "Seriously, how do the three of those kids work?  And where does Natasha fit into it?"

 

"Tony, manners," Happy reminded him from his own place where he was leaning against the cushioned side of the girls' couch.  Helen was reaching down and reassuringly patting his head of brown curls and he seriously felt like he could melt into tired contentment at that moment.

 

"Stoooooory," Helen demanded.

 

"One more, and that's all you're getting!" Darcy said sternly.  She blushed into the couch cushion as Steve's fingers drew lazy, nonsensical shapes on the skin of her wrist.

 

"Fine, fine," Thor sat up on his bed, using a pillow to bash Clint's head and push him away from the mattress.  "Once upon a time, during an exciting trip to the land of Tokyo, my brother, Loki was trapped inside of a very small hotel room, no bigger than one of your closets for close to twenty-four hours..."

 

* * *

 

 

**_Twenty hours ago_ **

  
  


Somehow, in the middle of the night, Steve had managed to flip over on the couch.  Bucky had managed to get one foot at Steve's behind and one on Darcy's, caging them in.  Steve's arms were wrapped around Darcy, holding her close.  One of his hands was providing a buffer between Darcy's bottom and Bucky's foot.

 

It was that lovely sort of ticklish feeling that Darcy had woken up to.  Steve's rough fingertips were on her bare skin, high up on her thigh, under the sleep shorts she had put on the night before.  His index finger was actually grazing the line of her panties, but his other fingers were touching skin, and it was giving her the most delightful, slightly tickled feeling.  

 

When she opened her eyes, there was Steve's nose, taking up the entirety of the field of her vision.  She smiled and pursed her lips, pretending to kiss the end of that lovely, interesting nose that was just a little bit too big for the rest of his angular face.  She heard Natasha's pleased noise and brought her head up slightly to see that Natasha was perched on the back of their couch, looking down at them with a very pleased, smarmy expression on her face.

 

"Breakfast?" Darcy wondered softly.  She and Natasha had the dubious honors of being early risers, and also not needing as much sleep as their friends.  Everyone else could be counted on to sleep at least another two hours.

 

"I want bagels," Natasha calmly told her.

 

"Kay, let me get out of this," Darcy nodded.  She was old hat at getting out of Steve's sleepy cuddles.  He had often treated her like a precious little cuddly stuffed bear since they were toddlers, even if he hardly ever did it anymore.  Her nana had had an entire scrapbook dedicated to snapshots of the way she, Steve and Bucky used to nap together as three and four year olds.  

 

Natasha helped by leaning down gracefully and running her index finger down the sole of Bucky's bare foot.  He flinched and suddenly the foot holding Steve's hand on Darcy's bottom was lifted and placed on the other side of Steve, Bucky's toes digging into the small of Steve's back.  

 

Darcy wiggled her arms until she could get her hands on Steve's scalp, and slowly began dragging her fingertips through his hair.  He let out a contented sigh in his sleep and everything in him loosened to jello.  Darcy started to sit up, but those thin, reedy little bands of steel pulled her closer.

 

"Darce," he murmured in his sleep before letting out a low, throaty moaning sound.

 

"I'm up, what?" Tony was instantly standing.  "That sounded like a sexy sound, who is doing it?"

 

Natasha made a pleased sound as Steve nuzzled his face into Darcy's neck, but she quickly and gracefully leapt off the back of the couch and had Tony handled and out of the room while Darcy continued to try to free herself from a sleepy Steve.  

 

She felt his lips land on her skin and his fingertips moving on the top of her thigh and she shivered at the feel of it before very quickly finding new strength to get her up and out of his hold.  She crawled up over the arm of the couch and landed on wobbly legs as she looked back at Steve, who was pouting in his sleep as his arms reached for her blindly.  She took one of the pillows Tony had dislodged moments ago and popped it into Steve's arms, who took her substitute in dreamy acceptance, kissing against fabric and giving little happy moans.

 

"Weird," Darcy furrowed her brow before shrugging and heading towards the bathroom to quickly change.  If they could get all the breakfast back to the suite before the rest of her friends woke up, the better off they would be on keeping on track the rest of the day.

  
  


* * *

 

 

**_Nineteen hours ago_ **

  
  


"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my whole life."

 

Tony was cradling two large cardboard boxes in his arm as if they were babies, when in fact, they were two boxes of coffee obtained from the corner bagel store.  They had returned to their suites, and while Darcy and Natasha were busy unloading a truly impressive amount of breakfast food on the kitchen island, Tony was still holding those two boxes of joe as if they were the most precious things in his life.  At one point, he leaned in and gave one of the boxes a gentle kiss.

 

"One day with coffee, and he's already treating it like manna from heaven," Natasha rolled her eyes.  "Crack one of them open, Tony, that should wake up about half of the crew."

 

Tony did as he was told, gently and reverently placing the boxes down.  Darcy smirked and grabbed two strips of bacon before going back to the couch she had escaped from earlier.  Steve was still clutching at the pillow, and Bucky's feet were still in the small of Steve's back.  She went with the easier of the two first, holding the strips of bacon above Bucky's nose and waving them back and forth ever so slightly.  

 

Bucky didn't wake up with a groan or a sound, he simply moved his head upwards and snatched at the bacon in Darcy's fingers with his mouth.  To her credit, Darcy was used to this behavior and patiently fed Bucky the bacon as he woke up to reality.

 

"More bacon, Darce?' he questioned.

 

"Natasha has more over in the kitchen," Darcy promised.

 

"Love you, kid," Bucky nodded, rolling gracefully off the couch and practically flying to the kitchen island where two of his favorite things were.  Bacon.  And Natasha.

 

Darcy nodded before maneuvering around the couch on her knees so that she was level with Steve once more.  She put one hand on the back of the couch for leverage before reaching down and gripping at the pillow in his arms, yanking it away from him so that he was practically whimpering in his sleep.

 

"Rise and shine, Steven," Darcy insisted softly as the rest of their crew had been brought to wakefulness at the smells of coffee and breakfast, shuffling up into semi-standing zombie positions as they wandered away until only Darcy and Steve and Thor remained.  

 

"Steven!" Thor boomed.  "I shall eat all of your precious cinnamon rolls."

 

"mmmpph no," Steve grumbled, refusing to open his eyes.  His arms were empty now, but he could feel Darcy looming next to him and without opening his eyes he reached for her, arms wrapping and pulling her down so that her back was pressed against his front.  He nuzzled into her hair and made a contented, sleeping noise.

 

"True love's affection is lovely," Thor sighed in wonderment.  He suddenly hopped off of the bed and called out, "Jane!  My dear one, allow me to embrace you!"

 

Darcy heard Jane's squawking noise of surprise from the couch, and snorted out a huff of laughter.   She wiggled in Steve's arms, only managing to get more solidly in his embrace.  She moved her head and managed to get a small glimpse of his face out of the corner of her eye.  He had a big, lazy smile stretching his lips upwards and a lovely blush spread across his cheeks.

 

"Steven, come on.  Rise and shine, sleepy face," Darcy tried to pry his arms off of her and he only doubled down.

 

"NO," he said simply.  Cuddling against her harder.  

 

Steve hadn't always been so hard to wake.  When they were children, it had only been Bucky that had required the promise of food in order to get up in the morning.  Steve had been a morning person along with Darcy, and they usually got into seven different kinds of trouble in trying to procure food for Bucky to wake up to from the ages of 3 until 12.  And then Steve went through puberty and all of a sudden he never wanted to wake up in the morning.  

 

Most days he would sleep until nearly lunchtime if he could manage it.  

 

"We have a lot to do today, Steven," Darcy reminded him. 

 

"cuddles."

 

Came his raspy response.  Darcy made a little noise in the back of her throat.  They hadn't had sleepy cuddles since Steve went through the aforementioned puberty.  They used to cuddle all the time.  Bucky had been known to participate a lot.  And when Jane had come into the party, she had been added.  Darcy had been sure they were well on their way to building a cuddle pile of massive proportions as each of their friends would join, but then Steve hit puberty before everyone and suddenly cuddling was off limits.

 

Darcy shifted in his arms and felt something hard against her backside.

 

And there was the very substantial reason as to why Steve had disbanded cuddle times once on  the precipice of teenagerdom.

 

"Oh," Darcy breathed out.  Very suddenly explosive laughter spilled from her lips. "Hiyooooo!"

 

The set of Steve's body changed in an instance.  Instead of sleepy snuggles, the fluttering of inappropriate dreams and heavy laziness, he was suddenly tight and cringing  with tension as he felt Darcy's backside against his very awake manhood.  He stopped breathing for a few seconds, and then it was too difficult to start breathing again, and before he knew it, he was in the throes of violent wheezing and Bucky was in front of him, administering his inhaler and Darcy was sitting behind him, her hands going up and down his back gently as he remembered how to breath.

 

"Yeah, I still don't get this," Tony shook his head from the kitchen counter where he was drinking his eighth cup of coffee already.  Natasha smacked him upside the head and he shrugged, taking it in stride.  "Weird relationship."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed yourself.


	6. Elaborate Heist?  Elaborate Heist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hah! We didn't have to wait so long this time! And I hope that you lovely loyal readers will greatly enjoy this chapter!

 

**Chapter Six: Elaborate Heist?  Elaborate Heist.**

* * *

 

**_Seventeen hours ago_ **

 

"You know, I'm pretty sure that you could have done this all on your own."

 

Natasha looked up at the accusation coming from very lovely, pink painted lips and gave one of her trademark smirks as a response.  Bucky huffed out a sigh, his breath moving the hair on his lovely auburn wig that had been placed on his head.  He was definitely not used to the wig, yet.  Or the fancy stockings.  Or the garters and straps holding the fancy stockings up.  And he DEFINITELY wasn't used to a corset and fake breasts filling the bra.  

 

"Why didn't you just go get whatever we were supposed to get on your own?" Bucky asked softly, one of his perfectly manicured fingers running up and down her bicep as she continued to adjust the fake breasts that Bucky was sporting.  Bucky's boobs were pretty average as far as size went.  Clint was flat as a board, but apparently that worked for his dress.  Both of them had gotten off easy, at least, because Sam was definitely packing bazookas behind his fancy dress.  

 

"Where's the fun in that?" Natasha shrugged.  Her phone buzzed and she looked down and smiled.  "Darcy and Steve are in their places at the wedding reception.  They're going to let you guys into the building."

 

"What do you think Principal Fury is up to?" Bucky wondered thoughtfully.  "To leave this crew in charge of planning plans seems...dumb."

 

"I think he's testing to see what we can get up to on our own," Natasha answered truthfully.

 

"Seems...strange," Bucky nodded.  "I don't trust him..  Do you trust him?"

 

"Oh, God no. Do I look like an idiot to you?"

  
  


* * *

 

**_Sixteen hours ago_ **

 

"Don't you dare, Steven!  Steven!! NO!" 

 

Darcy's hissed warning cut through the air as she hurried away from her post at the door to the kitchen.  She had turned her back on Steve for ONE second, and there he was, hand stretched out towards the awfully gaudy, buttercream laden five tiered cake, finger ready to swipe one of the baby blue icing roses off of the edge of the cake.  Darcy  _ tackled _ him away from the cake. 

 

"I just wanted a little, Sparky," Steve grumbled underneath her as she straddled his body and looked down at him with wild blue eyes.  

 

They had gotten temporary jobs with the caterer for the wedding reception.  It had been easy enough, apparently they'd take anyone who had black pants, white dress shirts and little bow ties.  Steve reached a hand towards Darcy's face, much like he had just been reaching for a fingerful of sugar and butter, and he tucked a little piece of her long bangs behind her ear.  He let his palm rest against her cheek and gave her a shy, little smile.  

 

There was a faint knocking sound coming from the emergency exit at the back of the kitchen.  But Darcy and Steve were a little too busy just staring at each other to notice.  The knocking became louder and louder until finally it was pounding and they heard Clint shouting,

 

"Stop PAWING at each other and open up, I'm getting catcalled out here, you little motherfuckers!"

 

Darcy clammered off of Steve, and Steve pushed himself off the floor just barely, his shoulder knocking into the cart that the cake was on.  Suddenly five tiers of wedding cake looked about ready to topple down on him, but a strong and sure hand reached out and steadied it.

 

"Is this an American custom?  To destroy the cake? I look forward to it!" Thor smiled down at Steve, reaching a big, beefy paw down to lift the young man to his feet.

 

"No, the cake does NOT get destroyed!" Darcy insisted, her attention being taken from the newly arrived BOYS for one split second to look at Thor and Steve.  Thor was in a lovely tuxedo, that somehow managed to fit his every bulge and hard plane wonderfully.  She shot finger guns Thor's way before looking back to Clint, Bucky and Sam.  "Ladies."

 

They were all in lovely, glittery party dresses.  Clint was in purple with a blonde wig, Sam in red with a dark brown wig and Bucky in silver with an auburn updo.  Their makeup was FLAWLESS, as far as drag queens went.  Because each of the young men still very much looked like men in dresses.  It was a thing that their mark kind of enjoyed according to his secret social media pages that Tony and Jarvis had hacked into.  

 

So Clint, Sam and Bucky had dressed for the part.

 

"Gosh, Buck, you're beautiful," Steve said honestly.

 

"Don't you start that!" Bucky waved a finger in Steve's face.  "The last thing Stark needs to hear is that, then he'll be really confused."

 

"Gentleman ladies, allow us to enter the festivities.  Our electricians will need the key to open the safe in less than an hour," Thor advised, holding out his arms and smiling when Sam and Clint took each of them, leaving Bucky to stand escort-less.  

 

Steve slapped Bucky on his rear end as he was leaving and then ran away to avoid repercussions.  Darcy peeked out of the little window on the kitchen door, watching as Thor entered the party like he owned it, seeing the effect the newly arrived drag queens had on the already raucous party.  She grinned as Sam was enjoying his bustline, shoving it into the face of any and all.  Darcy turned to apprise Steve of the events and saw that he was back at the cake, ready to take a swipe of frosting.

 

"STEVEN!"

 

* * *

 

 

"BORED!"  Tony grumbled.

 

"Shut up, Tony," Natasha advised over the ear piece that Tony was wearing.  He had managed to cobble together two of them from spare parts of Clint's hearing aids, he wore one, and Clint wore the other and they were both tied into Natasha, who had a headquarters set up in the limousine bus with Happy and Cameron Klein, the one lone class recruit who was not a part of the original crew of misfits.  They were hiding out in plain sight  two blocks east of the wedding reception.  

 

"I wish I had gotten to go to a fun wedding," Tony huffed out.

 

"You would have had to dress in drag," Natasha helpfully reminded him.

 

"I'd make a pretty girl," Tony wagered.

 

"You would," Helen promised him, her voice quieter and not as easy for Natasha to hear.  

 

"Thanks, Cho," Tony huffed out, slightly mollified.  "BORED."

 

"Head on into the building, Thor and the boys should have the key in less than an hour," Natasha advised.  "Work on finding where the safe is, we don't know if the info is going to be forthcoming from our mark."

 

"Aye aye, boss lady," Tony said happily.  Anything was better than being so very, very bored.

 

Cameron looked at Natasha from his place next to her at the makeshift surveillance station they had made on the limousine bus and he hacked into the closest surveillance camera, showing Tony, Helen and Jane in their navy blue coveralls, fake moustaches and ball caps.

 

"You're good at this," Natasha accused.

 

"Glad to be of use somewhere," he shrugged.  "I seriously don't think I'm made out to be in your section, though."

 

"There has to be a reason you're with us," Natasha waved off his concerns.  "Not everyone is as loud of a personality as Tony or Thor..."

 

"NO, it's just...Happy and I talked about it this morning when we did the supply run," Cameron admitted.  "It feels like I should be with his group, really.  All of my friends are in that group, well, except for Rumlow and Rollins."

 

"Those guys suck!" Happy announced from the driver's seat, where he was ready and willing to zoom off towards the rest of the team, should they need a quick getaway.

 

"Yeah, but Carter?  And Pepper?  We all kind of have the same skill set, and it's NOT the skill set your crew has," Cameron said sheepishly.

 

"And what are our skill sets?" Natasha asked casually.

 

"Well, we're more of the support," Cameron shrugged.  "Important in our own roles."

 

"And my crew?" Natasha prodded.

 

"You guys are---"

 

"The heroes," Happy answered.  "You know, like in the movies, you're the ones who shit is always happening to."

 

Natasha heard a shriek and a crash and she put her hand on the earpiece.  Speak of shit happening.

 

"Stark? What's your status?"

 

* * *

 

 

"Uhm, Jane got squished?" Tony answered, looking down the ventilation shaft that Jane had been attempting to shimmy down in order to get inside the office they needed to be in.  "She's apparently too damned thin to shimmy down a shaft."

 

"Clint makes it look so easy!" Jane wailed from her place two stories down, where she was trying desperately to keep her legs pushed outwards so that she didn't fall down another twenty-seven stories.  

 

"You could have given me Lewis, I mean with those birthing hips, she wouldn't have fallen right away," Tony sighed.

 

"Watch it," Natasha ordered him.

 

"Whatever, Captain Rogers isn't on the comm units, and I wasn't being derogatory.  She DOES have birthing hips, all the better for the dozens of Rogers and/or Barnes babies that she'll be birthing someday," Tony spat back petulantly.

 

"How is Jane?" Natasha demanded.

 

* * *

 

 

Thor sat up straighter at the wedding, even as Sam and Clint and Bucky plied a man in his mid-thirties with lots of potent booze.  Thor's hand went to Clint's ear and he pulled out the hearing aid and he demanded in a loud voice.

 

"MY JANE?  WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH MY DEAR, SMART JANE?"

 

"She's fine," Natasha answered.  "Just work on the key."

 

"Rubbish!" Thor argued.  He looked at the mostly highly inebriated man sitting between Sam and Bucky, with Clint on his lap and pointed at the balding man.  "You will come with us and open something, immediately."

 

"Wha?" the drunk man replied curiously.

 

Thor rose from chair and hauled the man over his shoulder, with Clint included as well.  Luckily, the smaller man was used to climbing Thor, and did so handily, perching on his left shoulder as Thor threw the drunken man on his right.

 

Bucky hissed out a curse and pulled the hearing aid away from Thor and handed it back to Clint before Thor took off at a gallop, heavy weight weighing him down be damned.

 

"Tell Nat that we're leaving earlier than we thought!"

 

* * *

 

 

"What happened?  What's going on?" Steve wondered as he and Darcy both peered out of kitchen window.  

 

"They're leaving with the key," Darcy shrugged.  "The party is wild enough that it totally looks normal to have a ridiculous giant tuxedoed man carrying a man and a drag queen out of the party while the other two drag queens scurry after."

 

"Fun wedding," Steve smirked.  He opened the door so that the leftover trays and carts of cake could be brought back into the kitchen.  

  
  


"What are we supposed to do with this?" Darcy asked who she assumed was the senior waiter.  

 

"Dunno," he shrugged before grabbing a plate and taking off.

 

"Ugh," Darcy rolled her eyes, before looking over to Steve, who was very slowly inching towards the dozens of plates of wedding cake.   "Steven, no!"

 

"Steven, yes!" Steve laughed as he reached for two plates full of cake and just dove right, no fork necessary.  His nose got a dollop of buttercream on the tip of it, but he didn't seem too fussed, taking avid bites of the yummy vanilla cake that tasted a little bit like lemons and the buttercream which was primarily made up of Steve's favorite food.  Sugar.

 

"You have no impulse control," Darcy accused.

 

"Not when baked goods are involved," Steve shrugged.  He put down the empty plates and went for two more.  "S'really good.  This is the kind of cake I want someday."

 

"Gross, that was a monstrosity against cake!" Darcy accused.

 

"But it's so good," Steve argued with a full mouth.

 

"You think anything with sugar is good," Darcy accused.  "That cake was seriously ugly. And there is no way, I'm going to have a cake someday that has a working waterfall in it.  This is not 1987!"

 

"But it's SOooooo good," Steve argued, taking a piece of cake in his hand and smashing it into Darcy's mouth messily. His fingers rubbed icing into her plush lips, and the tips of his ears went a little pink when her tongue swiped out and took a quick lick at his thumb.  "Good? Right?"

 

Darcy nodded slightly, giving him a soft, icing covered smile.  Steve grinned at her dreamily, never even seeing two plates of cake coming up to either side of his face.  Darcy smashed the desserts into his ears and cheeks and jawline, steadily moving up to his mouth.

 

"Sparky...you do not understand what you'remmppffhdoin!" Steve called out even as his mouth filled with cake that she was smashing into his face.

 

The plates clattered to the ground, with most of the cake still in Steve's mouth and Darcy made a run for it, grabbing hunks of cake as ammo as Steve made chase.  

  
  


Ten minutes later, Steve was pinning Darcy to the ground, rubbing cake onto her exposed stomach, even as she avidly pushed cake down the back collar of his own shirt.  Every time she tried to squirm away with hysterical giggles, Steve corralled her back under his body as they made an absolute mess of each other and the kitchen.

 

The gentle throat clearing behind them did absolutely nothing to get their attention.  

 

The click of a camera did though.

 

Steve turned his head slowly to see Natasha, thankfully, and not any of their other friends.  Natasha would only lord the intimate, ridiculous position they had been found in over them, and perhaps maybe she would show Bucky.  

 

"Come along, lovebirds," Natasha advised.  "We need to extract the rest of the crew."

 

* * *

 

Tony watched as Thor stuffed his body into the hole in the wall, seeing the physically impossible happen.  There was no way such a mass should fit into such a small opening, but here it was, Thor's back end was sticking out as he reached down to grab onto Jane.  Tony took out his phone and snapped a quick picture of it, hoping to study it later.

 

"Perv," Clint accused.  "I mean, yeah, Thor's ass is fine as shit, but we don't go around taking pictures of our friends' body parts, dude.  Party foul."

 

Tony rolled his eyes and snapped a picture of Clint in drag.  

 

"For science," Tony reasoned.

 

"You kids are nuts," the inebriated hostage slurred out before trying to make a break for it.  Bucky and Sam were quick to chase him down, with Bucky putting him in a complicated hold he had learned from one of the many nights he and Steve and Darcy had watched Jackie Chan movies.  "I'm gonna have you all 'rested.  HELP!  A BUNCH OF UGLY BOYS IN DRESSES ARE ASSAULTIN' ME!"

  
  


"You said we were GORGEOUS!" Sam reminded him as Bucky marched the man down the hallway towards the stairwell.  

 

Helen put her hand on Sam's shoulder and shook her head.  "Men will lie to you in order to get what they want, you beautiful dreamer, you."

 

"Asshole," Sam huffed out as they followed Bucky.  

 

Thor began to unstuff himself from the ventilation shaft, somehow reverse birthing himself out of it, popping impossibly broad shoulders back out while keeping his hands gripped in Jane's own.  He refused to put her down, instead, cradling her against his chest like a small, precious thing.

 

Clint might have pouted, because Thor was no longer carrying him.

 

"Onwards!" Thor announced with much more cheer now that he knew that Jane was safe.

 

They arrived in the surprisingly small hotel room, all of them jammed inside along with their hostage.  Helen went immediately to Thor and Jane, checking over the little scratches on Jane's person, pulling out a Star Wars bandaid to place on a tiny cut on the young woman's chin.

  
  


"Where's the safe?" Sam demanded again, as Tony began running a small little rod attached to is phone around the room.  

 

"Go to hell," the drunk rude guy answered back.

 

"Nat could get it out of him," Jane sighed.  

 

"Nat's not the only one with interrogation skills," Clint smirked.

 

Bucky gripped the guy's ear between two strong fingers and twisted, causing him to bend in half in sudden, excrutiating pain.  

 

"Listen here, pal, we're gonna find this safe and get those papers whether you like it or not, so the question you have to ask yourself is if you want the pain slow or you want the pain fast?" Bucky asked in a very low, dangerous tone.

 

"In the bathroom, behind a false tile in the shower," the man answered.  

 

Tony rushed towards the bathroom, followed by Bucky and their hostage.  The rest of the crew were quick to follow, jamming themselves into the tiny space as best as they could. The man pointed to a tile and Tony went for it, pushing against it and smirking when it easily opened.

 

"Seriously?  You couldn't figure out another---"

 

The little outward explosion was more surprising than harmful.  They all wound up with faces full of dirt and debris.  Bucky hissed out in pain as his left hand that had closest to the opening caught a few embers, burning his skin.  He shoved their hostage towards Sam and Clint, and Helen was immediately in front of Bucky, inspecting his wounds carefully.  

 

"You'll live," Helen reached for a pocket and pulled out a few bandaids.  Mickey Mouse bandaids.

 

Sam and Clint manhandled the hostage towards the exposed safe, and held out his hand to the biometric lock on it.  Everyone held their breath as the safe whirred and clicked open, revealing a plain manilla folder, with just a few papers inside.

 

"That's it?" Tony pouted.  "I thought we'd be getting diamonds.  Or technology."

 

"What you are is going to get arrested!" the hostage shouted.

 

"Nope," Natasha said smoothly from the door.  She blew into a straw, and a dart zoomed out, landing in the guy's neck and rendering him unconscious.  She smiled serenly at all of her classmate's shocked looks, and Bucky's seriously covetous smirk.  "Derivative of chloroform.  He'll be out for a few hours, and between that and the alcohol in his system, he'll wake up thinking this was all a bad dream.  Close up that safe.  We should definitely be leaving now."

 

The crew fell in line and followed Natasha's orders, scurrying out of the room.  Bucky was last, and Natasha reached for his hand to check his little injuries.

 

"I'll get to keep the hand," Bucky joked.  "Helen's not going to chop it off."

 

"Good, it has its uses," Natasha arched a brow.

 

"You're seriously just so damned attractive, I don't know what to do with myself," Bucky whispered.

 

"Well, hopefully you know what to do with me," Natasha shot back before walking from the room.  

 

"So many, many things I could do to you, Red."

 

"Seriously?" Tony furrowed his brow as he poked his head back into the bathroom.  "Such complicated webs you all weave.  Poor Darcy and Steve.  To be cheated on so blatantly."

 

"Run, Stark," Bucky advised.  "I'll give you a five second head start."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really having so much fun with these kids. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


	7. Finding a Niche

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I keep finding little bursts of inspiration for this story. And it's not taking longer than a whole month!

 

**_Chapter Seven: Finding a Niche_ **

 

* * *

 

Fury had deemed their adventure and fairly tame ride back to school as merely acceptable and had prescribed a lot of unspecified training for the next few months until the Winter Solstice.  Things seemed to immediatelysettle a little after that.  Or as settled as suddenly being handpicked for a mysterious life changing assignment and leaving the comfort of their childhood homes could be.  They spent the mornings in the classroom with Dr. Banner, independently studying to obtain their high school diploma.  

 

They spent their afternoons in a different kind of independent study.  

 

They would part ways after lunch and go towards different areas of the school.  Natasha, Bucky, Sam, Thor and Clint all headed towards the private gymnasium in the basement of their dorm building.  The private gym was like a paradise for the quintet.  A nice little area for sparring, all the machines they could possibly need, a pool big enough for laps, and hidden off to the side, found by Natasha five hours into their first day in the gym, a little shooting range, complete with guns, crossbows and even a set of bows and arrows.  

 

To everyone's surprise, Bucky and Natasha weren't the only ones preternaturally good with the weapons.  Clint was excellent with the weapons.  And crazy responsible about their care and proper use.  He'd had to scold Darcy and Steve more than once for messing around with the crossbows, which were the only weapon that Natasha had deemed safe enough for the duo to play with.  Steve had tried a shooting lesson with the guns with Bucky and had proven to be entirely terrible with them.

 

The rest of the group had their own afternoon spot on the roof of their dormitory.  There was an entire open floor plan, sheltered by glass that was impossible to see into, although everyone had a beautiful view of the outside world.

 

They'd divvied up the space evenly.  Tony taking the North corner with his robots and computers. Jane had the South with six or seven whiteboards full of difficult equations and impossible machines she was building for the fun of it.  Helen set up shop in the East corner, and she had requested and been granted a few long lab tables, where she had experiments of her own design running all through the day and night.  And Cameron had refused to take up the empty space in the West.  

 

Despite his frequent spoken doubts, Cameron was still with what he and Happy had deemed the Hero Squad.  Cameron's quadrant was unlike the others.  He had a small little desk, jam packed with a three monitor computer system that frequently showed surveillance cameras that he had gotten into.  But more often than not, he sat there playing first person shooter games in the hopes that they would finally kick him out and place him in the class where he could be useful.

 

Darcy and Steve were to have the West corner of the top floor, and they did, setting up a comfy couch and a few book shelves.  They drug one of the big circular tables up from a conference room that the teachers never used and placed chairs around it.  They called it command central, and more often than not, they were sitting at that table, Darcy going over the progress reports that her classmates filled out on their work and Steve researching anything and everything he could get his hands on regarding the upcoming games.

 

When they weren't in their little command center, the duo meandered to the others, taking their turns in each science station and going to the gym as well, even though Darcy hated physical activity, and Steve was usually incapable of it.

  
  


"Sweep the leg!" Sam called out jovially as Natasha led Steve and Darcy through a sparring session against one another.  

 

Helen and Jane were the only other ones who could have matched up to Steve, physically, but they were both deeply entrenched in their wild, unauthorized experiments.  Helen was working on repairing worms that had been sliced up.  Jane was working on replicating some kind of particle that probably shouldn't actually be replicated.  

 

"I'm not sweeping her leg," Steve glared at Sam quickly.

 

"I was talking to Darcy!" Sam clarified.  "Sweep his leg, Sparks.  Sweep it good."

 

"We're bad at this," Darcy huffed out at Natasha in annoyance.  "If all you're going to do every time we come to visit you is to put us through our paces, we're going to stop coming and visiting!"

 

"I feel that we need to have you in peak physical condition," Natasha shrugged, clearly not caring about Darcy's threat.  If Darcy and Steve didn't willingly visit her every other afternoon, then she could find ways of making them visit her.  "Steve knows this."

 

Steve huffed a sigh and dodged Darcy's concerned look.  He did know that they needed to be better equipped for the physicality that was sure to be coming their way in the next few months.  He hadn't gotten much from his research so far.  

 

There was one small detail he had gleaned, just a tidbit, really, just that a couple of people had died during the Yingley Games. 

No big deal.  You know, just about ten percent of all previous participants.  

 

Steve had also learned that the participant's names had been wiped out from the records.  They all had code names.  Strange code names.

 

Like the Boulder.  And the Wasp.  And Arachno.  

 

It was all very mysterious and strange.  

 

But one thing was for sure.  Even Tony, Jane, Cameron and Helen could hold their own when it came to the physical trials.  

 

Steve and Darcy?  Not so much.

  
  


Not for lack of trying, on Steve's part at least.  He did all he could, but there were limitations to his small body and wheezing lungs.  And Natasha had praised him.  She could see that he knew what he was doing.  He knew the proper steps and physical moves to disable an oncoming attack.  He knew the best way to get up the rock wall that had appeared in the corner of the gym after Sam had requested it of Dr. Banner as a joke one day.  It was just getting his body to do what he wanted it to do that was the problem.

 

Darcy, on the other hand, probably could do what was necessary.  She was a strong little thing, and surprisingly flexible for someone who had claimed that she was born from a pair of sloths.  She just didn't want to do anything.

 

And even more surprising, she was REALLY good at getting out of having to do that work.  Proper weapons care with Bucky turned into Bucky doing all the gun cleaning and Darcy painting his toenails while he did it.  When pressed, Bucky had no idea how she managed to convince him to do it, and he refused to be mad at it either.  He'd just shrug and pat her on her head and pinch at her smiling cheeks.

 

Running laps with Sam never happened for Darcy.  Instead, during their scheduled running times, Sam and Darcy were in the sauna, sweating it out gracefully.  Sam's reasoning was that if she ever needed to run, he'd just throw her over Thor's shoulder and that's how they would deal with it.

 

Target practice with Clint was usually cancelled because Clint didn't want to have to deal with Darcy's hilariously bad aim.  Instead, they made popcorn and would watch Bucky and Thor lift weights.

 

Weight lifting with Thor had never happened even once.  Instead, they spent their hour of scheduled time together with Jane up on the roof, playing around with her experiments.

 

And to everyone's surprise, Darcy even managed to wheedle herself out of hand to hand combat with Natasha, unless Steve forced the brunette to attend.  When Helen and Jane had complained that Natasha always made THEM show up, Natasha had merely shrugged and said, 

 

"She's very convincing when she wants to be."

 

Today wasn't one of those days.  Steve had to do hand to hand combat drills, and that meant Darcy HAD to be there.  Because she did not ever try to convince Steve to do something else when his mind was set on training.  No one knew if she had ever even tried to convince Steve to do something different.

 

"Blargh," Darcy grumbled as she half heartedly blocked Steve's purposefully slow left jab.  "I want to go and make a leaf pile and roll around in it.  Let's do that instead."

 

"YES, let us do that instead!" Thor clapped his hands together in loud smacks that reverberated around the room like thunder.

 

"No, you have to learn this stuff too," Steve insisted.  "We just talked about how we needed to be able to do certain things in order to stay safe.  Learning how to dodge punches is one of them, Sparky."

 

"If I can't talk myself out of getting punched, I have failed at life," Darcy pouted.  "If I make you salted caramel and chocolate chip cookies, can we stop?"

 

"Oh, please, please please," Clint whispered.

 

"No, Sparky," Steve shook his head.  

 

"How about if she sweeps the leg, she can stop?" Sam offered.  "And then we can get all the cookies."

 

Steve paused and looked to Darcy with a calculating look.  She only smiled at him winningly, looking so adorable that he wanted to attack her with cuddles and kisses instead of pulled punches and swipes of his hand.  

 

"Get me on my back and you can go," Steve nodded.

 

"Hiyoooooo!" Tony shouted from the other side of the gym where Bucky was guiding him and the other roof dwellers through a weight lifting circuit.  

 

"Can it, Stark!" Steve called out at the same time Bucky slapped Stark upside his head.

 

"Weirdos and their weird threesomes, foursomes, moresomes," Tony grumbled quietly.

 

Darcy looked to Natasha, and saw the amusement in the woman's eyes.  Then she looked back to Steve and saw such confidence in his face that Darcy's nose wrinkled up in automatic annoyance.  He was so sure that she couldn't do it.  Granted, she was seriously awful at this physical stuff and he knew absolutely everything about the way human bodies worked in combat thanks to the obsessive reading and drawing he had done all his life and the work he had managed to do in the last few weeks with Natasha and Bucky.  

 

But still.  She didn't like being count out so quickly.  Especially by Steve.  

 

Darcy looked back at Natasha and gave her the slow smile that she knew warmed the deep dark corners of Natasha's secret heart.  One of Darcy's eyebrows slowly moved upwards and Natasha gave a slow blink in answer.  

 

"You don't think I can do it," Darcy finally looked back at Steve.

 

"Sparky, I believe you can do anything you put your mind to," Steve clarified.  "You just don't want to put your mind to doing this because you don't like sweating."

 

"You try having boob sweat, Rogers!" Jane defended from across the gym.  

 

"That's not gonna happen anytime soon," Steve laughed, looking down at his nearly concave chest.  He turned to Darcy and gave her a soft smile.  "C'mon, Darce, just try.  It might make a difference some day."

 

"Okay, I'll do it," Darcy nodded.  She looked back to Natasha and asked sweetly, "Would you please put Steve on his back in my honor?"

 

"Hey now!" Steve's eyes widened in sudden terror and he went running.  "Not fair!"

 

Bucky must have thought the same, abandoning his students and intercepting Natasha easily.  They began a complicated dance, and Steve stopped in his running to watch.  Each movement was precise and powerful.  Bucky would dodge swipes from Natasha and Natasha would neatly evade any offensive strikes from Bucky with ease and grace.  At one point, Natasha jumped and had her legs wrapped around Bucky's neck, intent on bringing him down, but he just twisted and turned with her body, both of them twirling in the air while still connected before they both landed on their feet and paused for a moment in their attacks.

 

Natasha winked at Bucky and his eyes widened and he turned to warn Steve.

 

Darcy had snuck up behind Steve while he had been utterly fascinated with watching Bucky and Natasha spar.  She jumped on his back and quickly wrestled him to the ground on his stomach and then spent the better part of the next four minutes getting him on his back.  

 

She sat on his chest, legs on either side of his arms and crowed in victory, her arms in the air as she squirmed in a silly little dance on top of him.

 

"SUCK IT, ROGERS!" Darcy taunted.

 

"Nah," Steve breathed out, his face red with exertion and other things as well.

 

"SUCK IT!" Darcy insisted.

 

" _ Kinky _ ," Tony called out from where he had been watching the live show with everyone else.

 

"I win," Steve shrugged.  "I mean, I got you sweating, which you haven't done in a few months."

 

"Also?  He can totally see up your shirt from that angle," Clint announced cheerily.  "You know Steve loves your boobs, Darce.  He's sporting  a semi right now."

 

"CLINT!" Steve shouted, gently pushing a shocked Darcy from him before he struggled to his feet and ran after his friend who was cackling madly and rushing for the rock wall to escape.  Clint was especially good at getting to the top of the rock wall and then remaining there for a good portion of the day. 

 

Steve stopped at the equipment racks and bent over, picking up a large, shiny metal disc and letting it fly towards Clint.  It hit him in the back and sent him flying.   Bucky laughed and went to retrieve the giant metal frisbee and nodded at Steve.

 

"Alright, punk, so you aren't so great with guns or the crossbow, but you seem to have decent aim with this.  So this is what we'll work with from here on out."

 

* * *

 

 

"They aren't ready."

 

Bruce looked up from his work and gave Fury a patient, guarded smile.  The kind of smile that said things that Bruce wouldn't say out loud.  It said that Fury clearly had no idea what he was talking about.  It said that Fury was woefully mistaken.  It said that Fury might technically be Bruce's boss, but he was an absolute idiot.

 

"I know what you're thinking," Fury said with quiet confidence.  "And let's just say I'm going to let it slide for now."

 

"Sure you are," Bruce nodded.

 

"They aren't ready," Fury repeated.

 

"What do I need to prove to you that they were ready for a very long time already?" Bruce wondered, clearly believing what he was saying.  "That they've been ready for years now?"

 

Fury made an unimpressed noise.

 

"If Thor had been here since the beginning.  They could have done what you want them to do three years ago," Bruce insisted.  "If anything, their trip to New York proves that they need a bigger challenge."

 

"Do you know what a big challenge is?" Fury crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave Bruce a challenging little quirk of his mouth.  

 

"I know," Bruce nodded.  "Is that what you want?"

 

"Let your kids impress me, Banner," Fury nodded.  "We'll see how they deal with BIG challenges."

 

* * *

 

 

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

 

Darcy's eyes widened in surprise and she and Steve both turned in their cushy first class seats to take a look at Cameron behind them.

 

"Now, you have a bad feeling about this?" Darcy demanded.  "NOW?  They just turned off the fasten seatbelt sign!"

 

"What's wrong, Cam?" Steve asked gently.

 

"I just...this feels off," Cameron shrugged.  "It's nothing.  It's just me being paranoid."

  
  


Darcy bit at her bottom lip and looked to Steve for a second.  Cameron had opened up to the team more and more, but he was still a little on the outskirts.  A little shy.  He rarely opened his mouth unless it was something important, really.  The fact that he was speaking up now, when they were 30,000 feet up in the air on a very ridiculous field trip to a remote island in the Carribbean was very much not Cameron being paranoid.

 

"Tell me," Darcy said firmly.

 

"Feels like a set up," Cameron sighed, reaching under his seat and pulling out his laptop.  He booted it up and said, "The Solstice is a month away and we're supposed to be getting ready for it and now we're told this is a field trip and a vacation, but we're each bringing along our most important equipment?  And I don't know.  Fury's face when he announced it.  Seemed off."

 

"Yeah," Steve nodded.  He got that.  But then again, he and Natasha had discussed it before.  Everything Fury did seemed just a little off.  

 

"Dr. Banner wouldn't steer us in the wrong way," Darcy said resolutely.  Natasha and Bucky both came back from the bathroom at the same time.  Natasha plopped down in her seat next to Cameron, and Bucky decided not to return to his seat across the aisle from Steve and Darcy, instead, he plopped down right on top of Steve.  

 

"We talking about the weirdness of this trip?" Natasha asked conversationally.  "Banner is being cagey.  Something is off."

 

"I'm sure it'll be fine.  Everything will be fine," Darcy insisted.  Dr. Banner was so much more than their supervisor at this point.  He was a friend.  

 

"Famous last words, cutie," Bucky patted her on the head.  "It's like a rule.  You say everything will be fine, and now, it's bound to go haywire."

 

Steve huffed out a sigh as Bucky continued to ruffle Darcy's hair playfully.  He pushed at Bucky's solid torso to get him off of his lap, to no avail.  Instead, Bucky began ruffling Steve's hair.

 

"Whatsamatter Stevie?" Bucky demanded.  "You feeling left out, punk?"

 

"Buck, stop, leave me alone," Steve huffed as Bucky continued to mess up Steve's previously neat and orderly hair.  

 

"My favorite tiny people," Bucky cooed at the pair, reaching a hand in Darcy's hair and Steve's.  He pushed them together, making kissy, smooching noises.  "So cute."

 

"Seriously, STOP," Steve nearly shouted, that gravely, bossy voice of his making Bucky stop cold.  He wiggled out from underneath Bucky's body and moved across the aisle, taking Bucky's empty seat, glaring straight ahead in cold anger.

 

Bucky huffed out a breath and gave Darcy one more pat on the head before settling in to Steve's vacated seat.  He threw a look Steve's way, but the stubborn fool was too dead set on being angry, blatantly ignoring him.  Natasha nudged Bucky's new seat with her knee and she made a little clearing of her throat that was kind of like a code between the two of them.   _ Operation: Two Blind Idiots being Adorable  _ was on, then.

 

Bucky flipped up the big seat divider that neither Steve nor Darcy had had the chance to flip up as of yet, and scooted closer to Darcy, lifting up a well muscled arm and wrapping it around her shoulders.

 

After a lifetime of platonic cuddles between her and Bucky, Darcy wasn't going to stop him from doing it now.  She knew flying made both Bucky and Steve anxious.  They weren't the biggest fans of heights.  And now that Steve had abandoned her to sit next to Helen, who was actively trying to medicate Steve with benadryl and dramamine, well, Darcy couldn't deny Bucky any kind of platonic comfort she could provide.

 

"You smell good," Bucky said in a voice that seemed a little louder than normal.

 

"Thanks?" Darcy shrugged.  

 

"So, what'd you pack for beach time?" Bucky waggled his eyebrows down at her as she stared up at him with a curious and befuddled look.

 

"A bathing suit and a really big t-shirt?" Darcy shrugged.

 

"Aww come on, kid," Bucky rolled his eyes. He could feel Steve’s eyes on them.  He could practically sense the livid anger boiling up and out of Steve’s skin.  "Why would you deny us looking at that teeny tiny itty bitty red polka dot bikini?"

 

"It's a tankini," Darcy corrected him.

 

" **_Ini_ ** , that's all that matters," Bucky grinned.  He let his eyes roam up and down Darcy's frame, which was pretty well hidden thanks to extra baggy and comfortable traveling clothes.  "Hey, that's my t-shirt."

 

"You gave this to me last summer, said it didn't fit anymore!" Darcy disputed.

 

"Nah, kid, it's okay," Bucky grinned down at her with an over abundance of charm.  "You look pretty as a picture in it."

 

Steve stood very quickly and rushed to the bathroom in the front of the plane.  Darcy went to wiggle out of Bucky's hold to follow him, but Bucky shook his head.

 

"I got this, Darce."

 

Bucky made his way up to the front of the plane and wasn't surprised to see Steve not in the bathroom getting sick like Darcy thought.  Instead he was just standing in front of the unoccupied bathroom, his hands balled into fists against his hips, looking red in the face and angrier than anything.

 

"Hey punk," Bucky said softly.  "Look, I---"

 

Bucky felt a stinging pain in his nose and suddenly saw stars as Steve punched him clear in the nose.  

 

"What the hell, Stevie?" Bucky demanded.

 

"You!" Steve hissed out.  "You can't---you.  Why?  Do you---do you like her?"

 

"Wouldn't matter if I did, since she's in love with someone else!" Bucky disputed, opened the bathroom door and reaching in for some toilet paper to dab at the blood trickling out of his nose.  

 

"What?" Steve's voice was suddenly small and very defeated sounding.  He shook himself out of it quickly and was clearly livid when he asked,  " _ Who _ ?"

 

"You, you dumb moron!" Bucky shook his head in amused disbelief as he shoved the toilet paper into his nose to stop up the bleeding.

 

"You're looking for another punch to the face, Buck," Steve warned.

 

"And you're sitting on your hands when the girl of your dreams is waiting for you to make a move!" Bucky accused.  "And she has been waiting for you to make a move for years!"

 

"She doesn't like me like that, she likes...she wants  _ you _ like that," Steve insisted in a fierce, small whisper.

 

"You are so wrong there, pal," Bucky shook his head.  "I'm her brother.  She's my sister.  It's always been that way with us.  But with you, she loves you, punk.  Like the kind of love you see in movies.”

  
  


Steve looked down at his hands, noticing for the first time that they were shaking.  

 

“What if she doesn’t?” Steve asked.

 

“Stevie,” Bucky sighed.

 

“No, this isn’t me being self-deprecating,” Steve insisted.  “What if she says no and then it gets strange and we just...we lose everything?  She’s everything in the world to me, Buck. I---I love her.  I can’t ever lose her.”

 

“It’ll never happen,” Bucky promised.  

 

“Can you guarantee me that?” Steve wondered.  He shook his head and sighed, “This was a lot easier when we were kids.  I knew then that nothing on this Earth could take Darcy or you away from me.”

 

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded.  “But I promise you, pal, you’ll never lose me.  You’ll never lose Darcy to me.  She and I don’t work like that.  Never will. But---”

 

Steve looked up at Bucky with sudden worry in his eyes.

 

“A girl as great as Darcy is gonna catch another guy’s eye someday,” Bucky promised him.  Steve’s face soured and he looked a strange combination of desolate and angry.   “In order to stop that from happening, you gotta make a move someday, punk.  She deserves to know that you feel that way about her.  To know that she’s loved.”

  
  


Steve looked down the aisle and saw Darcy pop up from her seat, staring up towards the front of the plane in obvious concern.  Her face lit up at the sight of him and she gave him a small, shy wave.  

  
“I’ll do it.  I’ll talk to her soon, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are so many exciting things that are about to happen here. Big things. (wink wink nudge nudge). 
> 
> Also, I have a serious love for writing shady Fury. He is a joy to me. So sneaky. Such subterfuge. 
> 
> thanks so much for reading! I appreciate every single one of you!


	8. Virgin's Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So I realize that I never explained who Cameron was. You know that dude in the Winter Soldier who defied Rumlow about launching the ships? And the guy in Ultron who brought the boats of Sokovians to the helicarrier? That's Cameron! Adorkable. 
> 
> So. Are you guys ready for something? I certainly hope so...
> 
> (Warning, underage drinking ahead)
> 
> (second warning, if the idea of lying or potential cheating upsets you, please take caution in reading this chapter!)

**Chapter Eight: Virgin’s Sacrifice**

 

* * *

 

 

“So, this was a pretty fucking terrible idea.”

 

Natasha shrugged at Bucky’s declaration as they surveyed the absolute wreck of the living area in the girls’ quarters on the island.  They’d been on the island for exactly six hours.  In six hours the following things had occurred:

 

  * Cameron had set up some kind of surveillance system to keep any unwanted company from coming upon them.  And he’d also managed to accidentally open the safe that contained copious amounts of liquor when he had plugged in a non-compliant cord into a socket that the safe shared.



 

  * Steve had not been able to get the safe re-closed in time before Tony discovered what they were trying to put away



 

  * Tony had spent exactly forty-five minutes in creating the Stark-tini.  And not just one Stark-tini.  Approximately fifteen gallons of the fruity and delicious and highly alcoholic drink.



 

  * Everyone, save for Bucky and Natasha, had imbibed all  fifteen gallons of the stuff.  Even Darcy and Steve, who probably had not wanted to drink it, but Tony had totally lied to them and told them he had made them a special _virgin_ batch.  (In his own eloquent words, ‘ _Virgin batch for the virgins_ ’).



 

  * Mayhem ensued.



  
  


Bucky stepped forward and away from Natasha in the doorway and went and retrieved a comforter from one of the beds down the hall.  He came back and placed it over Darcy and Steve, who were cuddled together on the couch.  Darcy with her head in the crook of Steve’s neck and her arms around his waist, and Steve with his arms clenched tightly around her, clutching her to him tightly, as if someone might try to take her away at any moment.  Bucky gently took a large lock of Darcy’s hair out of Steve’s mouth, only mildly curious to know how it got there.

 

(He would have been gratified to know that a drunk Steve had told Darcy that her hair  _ smelled so good that it probably tasted even better _ .  Darcy had called him her  _ favoritest nutjob _ in response.  Steve took a curling lock of her hair, shoved it in his mouth, made a few muffled  _ yummy yummy  _ noises and then both had promptly passed out).

 

“Did he talk to her before they got wasted?” Natasha wondered.  She had been a little too busy keeping Banner away from the bungalow, so that their adult supervision would be none the wiser about their illicit activities.

 

“Nope,” Bucky sighed.  “Here’s to hoping that while I was pulling Sam off of the roof earlier that they found a moment to maybe say the important stuff when they were drunk, just so it would have at least been said.”

 

“Hmmm,” Natasha nodded, although she didn't believe for a moment it had happened.  Steve and Darcy would have ducked into a private room immediately.

 

“Lightweights!” Tony called out from his hidden position behind the bar.  “Pepper can drink eight Stark-tinis and still win at Monopoly!”

 

“Pepper is the future queen of the universe,” Natasha reminded him helpfully.  “She’s not a normal teenager.”

 

“No, she’s perfect,” Tony sighed, before immediately started to snore from behind the bar.

 

“How’d they manage to get Thor drunk?” Bucky furrowed his brow at the large exchange student on the floor, with both Jane and Clint cuddled to his bosom.  “The second day he was in the States, he did eight keg stands in a row and wasn’t even a little bit hammered.”

 

“He hasn’t slept in over thirty-six hours,” Natasha sighed.  “The result of Jane introducing him to pixie sticks.  He’s not passed out drunk, he’s just passed out.”

 

Bucky shrugged and tried to hold back a chuckle, but couldn’t.  Natasha rolled her eyes at him as he continued to gently chuckle.  He stopped very suddenly and spun in a circle surveying the room.

 

“Helen?  Where’s Helen?” he wondered.  “Last I saw her she was trying to create a mega bandaid from the first aid kit she found in the bathroom.”

 

“Here,” Natasha walked to the little kitchenette and opened up the top shelf next to the fridge.  

 

Sure enough, folded up like an adorable rag doll, Helen was in the otherwise empty cabinet, sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face, and a mega bandaid in her hands.

 

“Holy cow,” Bucky shook his head in disbelief.  He went to go get her, reaching his arms up when Natasha stopped him.

 

“She likes closed up spaces when she’s drunk,” Natasha revealed.  “Leave her, we’ll get her out once she’s awake.”

 

“Is there anything about any of us that you don’t know?” Bucky asked the redhead, a slow smile of appreciation appearing on his face.  

 

“I don’t know what it’s like to make out with you on a private Caribbean island,” Natasha said in that low, monotonous tone of hers that never failed to get Bucky riled.

 

“Well, we’re going to have to fix that.”

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Steve woke up to the soft feel of curves pressed against him and the slow drip of water on his forehead.  He managed to blink his eyes open just barely and looked up, cross eyed at the person gently trying to torture him out of a very comfortable sleep.

 

“How do you feel, pal?” Bucky wondered as he continued to drip water onto Steve’s forehead.

 

“Better than I ought to,” Steve admitted, barely stretching beneath Darcy.  His eyes widened when he realized he was actually  _ beneath  _ Darcy, and his right hand flexed against her perfectly rounded bottom.  “Wassgoinon?”

 

“Stark got the two of you drunk,” Bucky explained helpfully, still dripping water on Steve’s head.

 

“Stop doing that,” Steve flinched in anticipation for every drop.

 

“Not until you promise to wake up,” Bucky shook his head.  “I don’t have bacon to feed you out of your coma.”

 

“Bacon,” Steve grumbled, closing his eyes and turning his head so that his nose was on top of Darcy’s head.  He sniffed her hair and sighed dreamily, rapidly falling back into sleep when Bucky decided to let another water droplet splash right between his eyes.  “C’mon Buck.  Go find Natasha to give you something productive to do.”

 

“It has been decided that we have hit the maximum wall of productivity between us,” Bucky said, sounding rehearsed.  “Any more productivity would have led to a situation that neither of us is ready to take on.  Even though I really want to, but I’m a gentleman and I understand where the lady is coming from.”

 

Steve blinked his eyes open again at that.  He looked up at Bucky in surprise, “You and Natasha….were...you know.  Doing stuff?”

 

“All the stuff that would be appropriate at this point in time,” Bucky got a slow smirk and let another water droplet fall into Steve’s gaping maw.  “A man doesn’t kiss and tell, punk.  And if you pester me about this, we’re going to have to talk about your handful of Darcy rump right now.”

 

“That’s not...we’re---we got drunk,” Steve stumbled with his words.

 

“C’mon, pal.  It’s me,” Bucky reminded him.

 

Steve sighed and whispered, “She feels so nice.  So soft.”

 

“Yeah, I get that,” Bucky nodded.  He flicked more water at Steve before going to the coffee table and putting the cup down, picking up a simple yellow envelope.  “We got a delivery this morning.  You’re gonna be interested in reading it.”

 

“Bacon?” Steve asked hopefully.

 

“The only person that’s capable of making bacon is passed out on top of you,” Bucky shrugged.  “Nat’s gone out to find you some sort of bacon replacement.  Now, walk me through that hangover remedy you always make her.  We gotta get something into Darce, before she starts spewing all over you like a tiny, nice and  _ so soft _ Godzilla.”

 

* * *

 

 

Once Bucky started the blender up, everyone but Darcy woke up blearily.  Jane ran towards the bathroom.  Clint begged Thor to stop breathing so loud.  Tony literally jumped up from behind the bar with his best fighting stance before promptly falling over.  Darcy simply snorted in her slumber, before burrowing further into Steve.  

 

“Sparky,” Steve whispered.  “Sparky, wake up, sweetheart.  We have stuff to do.”

 

“The peanut butter is icky, feed it to the hydrangea,” Darcy mumbled before somehow managing to press her breasts more firmly into Steve’s chest.  

 

Steve made a strangled, garbled noise and Bucky walked over with a cup full of grayish gunk and a bendy pink straw.  

 

“I got you punk, help is on the way,” Bucky promised, holding the straw to Darcy’s lips.  She didn’t take it, so Steve took the hand that wasn’t resting on her ass and pinched her nose shut.  Bucky very carefully put the straw in her lips and cooed at her, “There you go, girlie.  Take a sip.  You’ll be back to our normal little sparkplug in no time.”

 

It took a full minute, but finally, Darcy took a pull from the straw.  She made a contented moan and Steve’s eyes grew wide with panic as her body began to wiggle against his..  Another full minute passed and Darcy lazily blinked one eye open.

 

“They were supposed to be virgin,” she rasped around a mouthful of straw.

 

“Blame Stark,” Bucky smiled down at her.  “C’mon, kid.  Drink up.  We need you and Stevie’s brain at full capacity if we’re going to talk strategy.”

 

Full capacity took a whole forty-five minutes.  

 

But once Darcy was up and running, she was really up and running, taking the breakfast provisions that Natasha had hunted and gathered and managing to magic some pieces of ham into something resembling bacon.  Every last one of the crew had a different hangover remedy.  Darcy’s was the goop that Steve knew how to make from memory.  Steve’s was bacon.  Jane just had to be sick and then she’d be fine.  Coffee was the answer for Helen and Sam.  And Tony.  

 

“Mmmmm...bloody mary,” he sighed.

 

“You never had sugar before you met us, but you’ve had alcohol on a consistent basis?” Helen wondered.

 

“Neglectful parents,” Tony shrugged.  He held up his glass.  “And tomato juice is super good for you!”

 

“So was I right? This is bad, right?” Cameron interrupted Tony, who looked like he was about to start in on more benefits of bloody mary’s for breakfast.  Cameron had woken up hungover like everyone else, but seemed to perk up when Thor had shared his pixie sticks.  Their newest friend looked to Steve, who had just shoved a handful of mock bacon into his mouth as he looked over the papers that had been delivered to Natasha at daybreak.  “Still have a bad feeling.”

 

“Yeah, it’s bad,” Steve nodded, cross referencing the letter with some tourist pamphlets that Bucky had run and retrieved from the resort’s lobby half an hour earlier.  

 

Sam, who had no time for a slow reveal, as the coffee was making it clear he had to get to a toilet on the other side of the island to drop a deuce (Sam did not go twosies in a building where there were other people, he even ran to a different building when they were back home).  He read over Steve’s notes as he and Darcy had broken the mysterious code their instructions came in.

 

“Well, I’m out,” Sam shrugged, putting the paper down.  “Do we have any virgins here who can, you know, go to the site of virgin sacrifices and retrieve something important and valuable?”

 

Darcy cringed in her own seat as she looked around at her friends warily.

 

Tony began cackling with laughter and headed back to the bar to refresh his bloody mary.  

 

“I’m so out of the running on this one!” he said with pride and joy.

 

“Not it,” Clint shrugged.

 

Darcy turned to Cameron expectantly and he shook his head at her, and had the good grace to  _ not  _ high-five Clint.  Darcy didn’t bother looking to Natasha and Bucky, she knew them both well enough to know that they were not eligible for this particular task.  She looked to Jane hopefully and her mouth dropped when she saw Jane’s wrinkled nose of contrition(trademark pending).

 

“Whoops,” Jane cringed.

 

“Janie!” Darcy whispered.  “We had a pact!”

 

“Look at him!” Jane whispered back, gesturing her head to a handsome and smiling Thor.  “And he has huge brains behind the huge muscles.  And he  _ worships _ me.  How could I not?”

 

“Traitor,” Darcy hissed at her.  She swallowed the bitter betrayal and looked to Helen hopefully.  And she saw Helen, lovely wonderful Helen, with her eyes gone wide with fear and her face bright red as she stared at someone else at the table.  

 

Darcy turned and followed Helen’s line of sight and felt her stomach drop out as Helen looked at  _ Steve _ , who was scarlet red and staring down at his hands in his lap.

 

“Ooohoohohoo!  PLOT TWIST!” Tony practically shouted in his excitement.  He was so gleeful that he did not dodge the little marble statue that Natasha chucked at his head, and just like that, he was passed out behind the bar again.

 

“What?” Natasha furrowed her brow, looking between Steve and Helen.  “No.  No, that’s not possible.”

 

“Drop it,” Bucky said quickly.  He was just as shocked as Natasha, but his concern was only for Darcy, who looked as if she were about to bolt at any moment.  He crossed the room and dropped to his knees in front of Darcy.  “Sorry, kiddo, but it’s going to have to be you. Let’s go and get you changed.”

 

* * *

 

 

Steve looked down at his feet before lifting a hand and softly knocking on the door that Bucky and Natasha had spirited Darcy away behind in order to prepare her.  He would give anything in the world to go back a few hours, waking up to water dripping on his forehead and Darcy wrapped up in his arms.  He felt like the worst kind of scum on the planet.

 

“Guys, we have twenty minutes,” Steve said softly.

 

The door opened suddenly and Bucky came out, closing the door behind him.   He looked Steve up and down, his mouth set in a grim line.  

 

And then he decked him, one powerful fist landing high on Steve’s cheekbone.  Enough to make him see stars, and sure to provide a healthy and impressive bruise.  Steve staggered against the powerful blow and let out a soft grunt.  He took a deep breath and stood up straight again, looking Bucky in the eye.

 

“You’re lucky Nat let me come out here, instead of her,” Bucky said in a hushed whisper.  “What the hell, Steve?”

 

“It’s complicated,” Steve looked just past Bucky’s eyeline.  

 

Steve never looked someone directly in the eye when he was lying.  

 

“What the  _ hell _ , Steve?” Bucky repeated.

 

“Drop it, Buck,” Steve nearly begged.  “We gotta go.”

 

“I just got her to calm the hell down,” Bucky shook his head.  Darcy hadn’t said a word since he and Natasha had spirited her away, but she had been silently crying for ten minutes.   “Get the hell out of here and go on ahead with Thor and Barton to scout it out.”

 

Steve nodded and turned away from Bucky, each step he took away from the room where Darcy was felt like a tiny death sentence.  He needed to explain this to her, but he knew he couldn’t.  He walked down the hallway back into the common area where Clint handed him a towel wrapped around a bunch of ice.  Steve winced when he put the ice pack on his bruised face.

 

“Steve,” Helen said softly, walking towards him.

 

“Not now, Cho,” Clint said stiffly.  He was pissed at the both of them. There was no way that Helen or Steve didn’t know what they had done.  Their group, minus Thor, Tony and Cameron, had been thick as thieves since elementary school.  And everyone knew, or had hoped to presume, that Darcy and Steve were meant for each other.  Now one of his favorite people was heartbroken and two of his other favorite people were to blame.  

 

Clint didn’t do conflicted very well.

 

“Allow me to inspect your bruise,” Thor ordered Steve.  He looked at it with a shrewd eye before nodding, “I respect the blow and will not give you another one until I feel that you deserve it again.”

 

Thor turned to Helen and advised stiffly, “Jane is Darcy’s sister, you may wish to take care.”

 

Helen sighed and looked down at the ground, clearly conflicted.  

 

“Sorry,” she managed to get out.

 

“It is not me you should apologize to,” Thor sighed, before taking Steve’s shoulder in a firm grip and marching him out of the house.

 

“See, something bad,” Cameron whispered to Sam as they packed up everyone’s gear in case it was needed.

 

“I’m not going to believe that you’re psychic until you can give me winning lottery numbers, Cam.”

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy walked the short distance from their resort to the ritual site.  It wasn’t so much a virgin sacrifice site as it was a virgin worship site when it came down to it.  A couple hundred years ago, the native people on the island would round up all the males and females of a certain age who had not found their life partner.  They’d then be shoved into some cave to appease some sort of God.  Most of them usually came out non-virgins then.  Because they spent a night in a cave, bored with another person and found something to occupy their time.

 

Either way.  She had to go into a dark and dank cave.  Alone.  

 

If she was being honest with herself, she was  _ actually _ looking forward to it.  

 

At least in a dark cave all alone she’d have a minute to get herself together.  Bucky and Natasha meant well, but she could never stop crying around Bucky.  There was something so comforting about his presence that all the tears would just wash right out of her all at once.  It had happened ever since they were babies.  If Darcy was upset, and Bucky was there, Darcy was crying softly.  And crying in front of Natasha felt like she was slapping the girl in the face.  Natasha was strength and competence.  Darcy felt like a failure sitting and crying about the fact that she had been  _ right _ , and there had been something more going on with Helen and Steve.  

 

She walked between Bucky and Natasha, who were acting as human shields for the virgin being led to sacrifice.  Helen had tried to take a step to Darcy when they had finally come out of the door, but a fierce glare from Natasha had her frozen in place.  

 

Darcy tried to stop thinking about Helen in a negative way.  Helen was her friend.  She was good and kind and funny and smart.  She was  _ perfect  _ for Steve.  

 

And Darcy knew inherently that she had no claim on Steve.  They were friends.  That was all.  Obviously.

 

She couldn’t be mad at Helen.  

 

But she was finding it difficult to not be a little mad at Steve.  He had been getting more touchy feely with Darcy in the last few months.  And that was patently unfair to both her and Helen at that point.  

 

“You ready, kiddo?” Bucky wondered softly as they saw the little hidden cave about fifty yards away.  Thor and Clint were with their backs to them, but Steve was turned around, looking around the plush green landscape for the rest of the team.

 

He caught sight of them and his eyes fell to Darcy, a clear apology spelled across his face.

  
“As I’ll ever be,” Darcy sighed.  She nodded and took steps forward.  “Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M GOING TO RUN AWAY NOW! BYE!
> 
> Seriously though, thanks for reading. I think this is my favorite of all my works in progress, actually.


	9. Aptitude Tests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Synopsis: Darcy goes into a weird cave.
> 
> and a wild ???? appears.

**Chapter Nine: Aptitude Tests**

  
  


* * *

 

 

"This sucks."

 

"I know."

 

"I'm so sorry."

 

"Helen, there's no need to be sorry."

 

Steve didn't quite look her in the eyes as he was very clearly lying.  There was so much to be sorry for.  They stood to the side of their crew of friends as everyone was fussing over Darcy before she stepped foot in the mysterious cave.  The translated note had been clear.  Only virgins were supposed to go in the cave, where they would be tested and bring back something invaluable.  A treasure that was essential to everything that was to happen in the future.

  
  


He wanted to go up to Darcy, grab her hand and lead her through the cave.  

 

But he knew he couldn't.  He couldn't do that to Helen.  He had been the one to offer her the solution.

 

"I'm going to go tell them the truth," Helen whispered.

 

Steve turned to her, a moment of hope taking over and blooming in his gut.  It was quickly extinguished though, as Helen was near tears and nearly crying at the thought of telling the truth.

 

"No, Helen, you don't have to do that," Steve said softly.  

 

"They hate me," Helen whispered.  "Darcy is going to HATE me."

 

"No, that's not possible," Steve assured her.  "Darcy could never hate you.  She's...she doesn't hate.  She couldn't."

 

Helen looked to Steve, and saw that his face was hopeful as he watched Natasha double check the placement of Darcy's little bag full of absolutely anything she could have possibly needed to probably survive the zombie apocalypse.  Bucky was drilling her on the simple little defensive strikes he had taught her when they were kids, as soon as Darcy had started to develop as a young woman.  Clint was chattering to her about the best way to scale a rock wall if she had to climb, and Sam was securing a grappling hook to her belt.

 

And amidst all of this chaos, Darcy stood stock still, looking down at the ground, the tip of her nose still red from her previous crying.  Steve could swear he felt his heart breaking at the pain in her eyes.  He would do anything to get it to go away.  Except let Helen tell the truth.

  
  


"You really love her, don't you?" Helen wondered softly, already knowing the answer.

 

"I really do," Steve nodded.  "More than anything."

 

"I'm so sorry, Steve," Helen bit at her bottom lip.

 

"It's alright, Helen, you don't have to be sorry," Steve assured her.  His next words sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself.  "I knew what I was doing.  What I am doing.  It's going to be okay."

  
  


* * *

  
  


"If you get into trouble, you call out real loud, kiddo, and I promise you, I will run into that cave after you," Bucky said softly as one by one everyone else dropped off and it was only Darcy, Bucky and Natasha standing at the mouth of the cave.  

 

"I can do this," Darcy insisted.  "I mean, really, it's like picking up a pizza.  I'm just going to meander down to the cave pizza shop and pick up a cave pizza.  NO biggie.  Easy peasy.  Lemon squeezy."

 

"Except the pizza is a mysterious item that will help us on our journey, Zelda style!" Tony called out helpfully.  "And it's not a pizza shop, it's where virgins are led to their inevitable doom. OW!"

 

Thor glared at Tony, his hand ready to strike the back of his head again.  

 

"Hey, Cameron?" Darcy called out.

 

"Yeah, Darce?" he wondered.

 

"You still got a bad feeling?"

 

"No?" he obviously lied.  

 

Darcy turned and gave him a little, genuine smirk before her eyes slid to Helen and Steve, who were standing apart, ostracized from the rest of the crew.  Helen gave her a teary eyed smile and a gentle wave.  Darcy waved back at her before she looked to Steve.  

 

Steve was staring back at her intensely, looking like he was a half second away from rushing towards her and wrapping her up in a hug.  His hands rose from where they were clenched into fists at his side and he pushed his fingers together, shaping a heart with them, holding it over his heart.

 

He hadn't done that to her since they were twelve and it was their first day in middle school, right before the first class where they had to separate for the first time in their entire academic careers.  Gym.  He'd watched her go into the locker room and when she had glanced back at him once, he had held his hands up in the shape of a heart, a big, sincere smile on his face.

 

She took a deep breath before turning away and taking a few emboldened steps into the cave.  It was dark, and she was thankful for the lights that Stark had rigged to sit on the straps of her bag at her shoulder, because they were plenty powerful and bright.  She tripped about five feet in anyway, and took a deep shuddering breath.  

 

Darcy was scared of a lot of things.  She hated fighting.  She hated confrontation.

 

And she really was not a big fan of the dark.

 

She'd have given anything for Steve to be right next to her, guiding her through, steadying her every time her foot hit a rock that threatened to topple her.  Her forearm smacked against the jagged rock wall and she let out a yelp as she felt the edge scratch her pretty badly.

 

She reached into the compartment of the bag that Helen had packed for her, pulling out an easy little bandage that would stick heavily to the bleeding little line on her forearm without much fuss.  

 

"C'mon, Darcy, just going to pick up the cave pizza," She sighed.  "You can do this."

 

* * *

 

 

Steve was now at the mouth of the cave, still standing apart from the rest of the crew.  He heard the echo of her yelp and he made two steps forward before Sam had a hand clamped down hard on his shoulder.

 

"You can't go in there, and you damn well know it," Sam reminded him.  

 

"If she needs me, I'm going in," Steve disputed, clearly agitated.

 

"She's a hell of a lot tougher than you give her credit for," Sam shook his head, clearly more than a little pissed at his friend.  "And she's gonna be just fine without you.  She won't need you for anything."

 

"What are you getting at, Wilson?" Steve muttered.

 

"Just saying," Sam shrugged.  "Girl like that wouldn't stay unattached for long.  Bucky may view Darcy as a sister, but not everyone would.  I think she's a gorgeous girl, for one."

 

Steve forcefully shoved Sam's hand away from him and turned to face him fully, glaring up at his friend's face with a fearlessness that belied the disparity in their physicality.

 

"Keep your damned hands off of her," Steve warned.  He knew enough about Sam's proclivity for casual relationships to know that he needed to stay far away from Darcy.

 

"You get absolutely zero say in who puts hands on her.  You know who has a say in that?  She does.  She did yesterday, she did a thousand yesterdays ago, and nothing you said or did will change that," Sam scoffed.  "We all went through the feminism introductory course, given by DARCY when we were seven, you should be able to remember that shit.  And besides the fact that you and Helen have whatever weird shit you were all doing behind our backs."

 

Sam's tone was more than bitter.  Steve knew that Sam had a crush on Helen.  Everyone knew.  But Helen was decidedly against romantic relationships all throughout her teenage years.  She had always said she'd have plenty of time for romance when she was old and gray, for now, she just wanted to have fun with her friends.

 

Sam guessed that she had had a lot of fun with one friend in particular.

 

A shout of surprise and a grunt of pain echoed to the mouth of the cave and Sam couldn't grab Steve quick enough.  He rushed with surprising speed right in, following the sound of Darcy's distress blindly.

 

* * *

 

 

"Motherfucker," Darcy hissed from her sprawled out position on the cave floor where she had fallen.  

 

"You okay?"

 

"SHIT ON A CRACKER! WHO IS THERE?" she yelled out.

 

"Uhm...someone that you don't know," came the hesitant, clearly male voice.  "No one you need to be worried about really.  Ignore the man behind the curtain."

 

"Okay, when I start discharging this awesome taser my friend Natasha gave me, you can ignore the girl electrocuting you," Darcy fumbled in her bag and pulled out the little device that Natasha had taught her how to use years ago.

 

"Natasha?  Natasha Romanoff?" came the voice.  "Oh shit, she's here?  Damn.  I was not expecting that.  But no one expects the Russian Inquisition. Heh.  That was funny.  I'll have to remember that one."

 

"Who are you?" Darcy demanded, her finger on the trigger.

 

"Don't be dumb, dude.  I'm totally not telling you who I am," the voice came back, incredulous.  "I mean, there's a reason I tripped you.  There's a reason I'm like, all shrouded in the mysterious blackness of the cave.  I'm gonna go and steal what you came in for.  Duh."

 

"Fine, you can't hide in the mysterious blackness if I light this place up," Darcy muttered before pointing the device in the direction of the voice and letting loose, the little electronic lightning bolts lighting up the darkness of the cave, and about ten feet in front of her she saw the leads land solidly in the chest of a terrified teenage boy dressed in stealthy black.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another figure arrive on the scene, coming to  a skid behind her as he surveyed the very powerful taser continue to shock the hell out of the young man who looked like a stereotypical cat burglar, complete with a black ski mask pulled down halfway over his face.  

  
  


"Steve?" she questioned.

 

"Sparky, let go of the trigger before you kill him!" Steve called out as he walked towards her carefully, avoiding the charged leads of the taser deftly.  He was at her side in an instant before the cave went dark again save for the lights on Darcy's shoulders.  Steve reached out for her, hands going for her arms and rubbing up and down to assure that she was safe and solid beneath him.  

 

The body of the other teenager hit the cave floor with a plop and a groan of pain.

 

"Who is that?" Steve wondered.

 

"No clue, he didn't say a name but he knows Natasha," Darcy answered.  She shook her head as Steve wrapped her up in his arms.  "You can't be in here, Steve.  What if they decide we're cheating and we can't get the thing we need?"

 

"I don't care," Steve mumbled as he hugged her.  "You okay?"

 

"I think I twisted my ankle," Darcy huffed out a sigh.  

 

"Alright," Steve nodded, hands fumbling in the dark, swallowing when his palm skated along a slope of her chest.  His hands traveled down and ran along her legs before reaching her ankles, tenderly touching them and prodding until she hissed when he hit a sore spot.  "Okay, give me one of those lights. You stay here and watch this guy.  If he gets up and tries to move, you call out."

 

"Steve what are you doing!" Darcy hissed at him as he took one of her lights and got up quickly, walking further into the cave.  "Come back and get me!  You can't do it, it has to be me!"

 

"That guy not a virgin?" the huffed out mumble came from where the young man had crumpled on the ground.  "What in the hell, man, I mean, I know I'm not like, a prize or anything, but I've got like four inches on that guy.  And I don't look like a strong wind might blow me over.  How the hell is he out there scoring and not me?"

 

"Fuck off, dude," Darcy hissed at him.

 

"Ugh, we have to get out of here," he said as he struggled to get up and off his back.  The leads planted in his shirt stopped him and he yanked them out and tossed them to the side.  "I think you paralyzed me."

 

"You're not going anywhere," Darcy promised, she pressed a button and pulled back the leads as the taser charged and she did not hesitate in holding up her weapon again.

 

"If that guy's not a virgin and he goes and grabs that thing, this whole cave will fall in on our heads," he promised, rolling over on his stomach and pulling himself to his feet slowly.  "Don't you guys know that?"

 

"We were given very little information about this, just that a virgin had to come in and grab it," Darcy shrugged.

 

"I'm gonna go stop him before he kills us both, please don't electrocute me again," the man asked politely.  "And if we do get crushed in there, and you manage to make it, tell my mom I love her, and tell my friend Luis that he can have all of my pokemon cards.  But not my pikachu rare card, cause that's totally getting buried with me."

 

Darcy nodded and held the taser up to the cave ceiling, hitting the trigger and lighting up the cave as best as she could.  She glimpsed the man who she had mercilessly electrocuted limp as quickly as he could in chase of Steve.  

 

She waited, hearing the man shout in the distance.

  
  


"NO DUDE, DON'T.  THE HOTTIE WITH A BODY IS GONNA GET CRUSHED IF YOU TOUCH IT, STOP!  NO!  OH.  NEVERMIND."

 

A few more minutes passed by as Darcy anxiously awaited death by cave implosion, but eventually Steve and the mystery man came ambling back towards her.  The mystery man was empty handed, but Steve had the  small vial of blue stuff in his front pocket.

  
  


"Got it, now, if you'll hand it over and excuse me, I have other places to be," the mystery cat burglar said with an almost unnatural cheerfulness.

 

"I don't think so, pal," Steve grabbed the man's free arm and did a twist, pulling it behind him and incapacitating him handily.

 

"WOAH dude, you are way stronger than you look," the young man huffed out.  

 

"C'mere, Sparky," Steve said softly, managing to keep a hold of their captive's wrist while still bending over and helping Darcy up with his free hand.  She yanked on the taser so that it came out of the ceiling and pulled back the leads.  Steve took a deep whiff of her hair when she leaned into him, using him as a human crutch and slowly, but surely they made their way out of the cave.

 

Natasha was holding Bucky back bodily at the mouth of the cave, and he didn't really calm down when he saw Darcy limping against Steve.  Bucky was surprised when Natasha let him go and while he went straight for Darcy, Natasha went straight for the unexpected man that Steve was dragging along with him.  She put her hand around his neck and Steve was jostled in the fray, but had the presence of mind to grab the vial before it fell to the ground.  Meanwhile Bucky lifted Darcy up in a fireman’s carry and brought her out of the cave towards Helen, who had her little first aid station set up in anticipation of bumps and bruises.

 

"What are you doing here, Lang?" Natasha demanded harshly.

 

"Hey, hey, hey, someone get her off me!" 'Lang' called out anxiously as Natasha twisted his body and tossed him towards the ground outside of the cave.  "She's dangerous, get her off of me!"

 

"Nah," Jane shrugged.  "What did you do to Darcy?!"

 

"She tripped, man, it wasn't me," Lang lied pretty believably.  "And that's her name?  Cute.  Original.  Matches her face.  Hey Darcy, how you doing over there?"

 

"What are you doing here, Scott?" Natasha demanded.

 

"You guys think you're the only ones out there that need help with these dumbass games?" Scott wondered.  "Someone else hired me to get that vial over there.  I'd like to take it back to them, please, because they're not the kinds of guys who take kindly to failure.  They're actually pretty much all assholes, soooooo...."

 

While Helen quickly looked over Darcy, Bucky took the vial from Steve's hands and surveyed it.  A loud booming sound echoed from deep within the cave and Bucky's eyes widened in shock.

 

"Jesus, is the cave imploding in on itself?" Sam wondered.

 

"Impure hands," Scott muttered, only heard by Natasha.

 

Darcy plucked the vial from Bucky's hands and shoved it into a compartment in her bag and the rockfall stopped immediately from within the moment she had touched it.

 

"That's some seriously effed up mojo," Sam blinked in disbelief.  

 

Helen shared a worried look with Steve and he shuffled a little, waiting for someone to make the connection.  Over half of their group had over genius level intellect, it was only a matter of time before---

 

An absolutely unearthly roar interrupted any and all thought from any of the teenagers.  The sound of a tree being snapped in half as something rumbled towards  them made everyone shake with sudden fear.

 

"What the hell is that?" Tony demanded, throwing a ball into the air and it immediately took flight.  He nodded to Cameron, who brought up the camera feed from the little robotic ball that Tony was piloting with his phone.

 

"Holy shitballs," Cameron breathed out.  He held up the tablet and turned in a semi-circle for the rest to see.

 

It was big.

 

It was slightly human-ish looking.

 

And it was the most awful shade of green any of them had ever seen.

 

"Let's move people, it's coming this way!" Steve called out.  He went to reach for Darcy, but Bucky stopped him and picked her up before throwing her over his shoulder.  "NOW, let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a wild Scott Lang appears!!! 
> 
> So. Do you have more thoughts about what was revealed in this chapter? Regarding, you know, Steve and stuff?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Escape from Big Green Nasty Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little action filled chapter today as I gather the courage to finish up a two-part Bucky/Darcy/Steve story and then (gulp) post it some time. (I have no idea what I am doing!)

 

**Chapter Ten:  Escape from Big Green Nasty Island**

 

* * *

 

  
  


"See!  Bad feeling!  Bad feeling!" Cameron gasped desperately for air as they all collectively stopped their outright sprints when they finally hit the beach where their bungalows were situated.  

 

"What the hell was that thing?" Sam demanded.

 

"Do you really want to stand around and wait to find out, no offense, but I'm OUT of here!" Scott yelled as he marched further down on the beach.

 

"Where are you going, Lang? Are you gonna swim your way out of here?" Natasha wondered.  

 

"I'll get picked up about a mile out, it'll be nice, it's a good day for swimming," Scott assured her.

 

"You'll be picked up by the people that want the vial," Natasha reminded him serenely. 

 

Scott made a step towards Darcy, who Bucky had managed to jostle around until he could hold her piggy back.  

 

"Don't even think about it," Steve grumbled as he fought to catch his breath.  He was thankful for Clint, Thor and Sam, who presented a united front in front of Bucky and Darcy.

 

"Wonder what your employers will say when you come back empty handed?" Natasha shrugged with a positively wicked smile on her face.

 

"You guys suck," Scott grumbled.  "Okay, how are you guys getting off of this island?"

 

"Clint, Thor, Helen, go and look for Dr. Banner," Steve ordered.  

 

There was a time for polite requests, and there were times like that moment, where clear cut orders would be made and followed.  Steve was often the one giving the orders and no matter what internal personal strife the group was struggling with, they usually always listened.  Up until this insane point in their lives, they had usually followed orders when they had to catch Clint’s rogue dog whenever he’d gotten loose, or at the very most, hide from Vice-principal Carter when they had all gotten up to no good before.  

 

Running from a giant, hulking, green man...or something slightly like a man, was a very new scenario.  But orders from Steve were followed, no matter the circumstance.

 

Case in point, the trio in question immediately rushed towards the smaller bungalow that their supervisor had been staying in.

 

"Sam, Jane, figure out a way to get us out of here," Steve nodded.  He could see their unspoken concern and shook his head.  "I don't care how.  Steal a couple rowboats, or build a raft, or steal a plane, but get us out of here."

 

They went off too, Jane rushing towards a little dock area that held boats and little puddle jumper planes like they had used to get from the airport to the island in the first place.  Steve looked to Natasha and she nodded, not needing verbal instruction.  She reached into her back pocket and out came a high tech looking pair of handcuffs, which she slapped on Scott's wrists.  

 

"Cam and Tony, keep an eye on that thing, if it gets within a quarter mile of us, we're running again," Steve nodded at them.

 

Tony saluted, "Aye Aye Captain."

 

"Sparky, how are you feeling?" Steve asked softly, turning to look at Darcy as she clung to Bucky's back.  

  
  


"M'okay," Darcy mumbled into Bucky's back.  

 

Bucky was watching Natasha as she finished up securing and hogtieing Scott Lang.  Natasha gave Steve a funny little curious look before she turned to look at Bucky, conveying something mysterious to him without words.  Steve was hiding something.  

  
  


"Dr. Banner is not in his quarters!" Thor bellowed from quite a distance away, his voice ringing true like a bell.  "He left us a note stating that he was snorkeling on the island next to us and we were to call if there was trouble!"

 

"Ring ring,  _ Trouble _ ," Scott rolled his eyes.  “That was a capital T, in case you couldn’t tell.”

 

"I'll gag you, Lang," Natasha rolled her eyes.  

 

The roar in the previously calm air had all of the young people tensing in anticipation.  Cam waved his hand in the air.

 

"He's coming towards us again!"

 

"Let's move," Steve said, reaching out for Darcy when Bucky put her down and reached for her taser in her pack.  

 

"But Nat got that for me," Darcy disputed as Bucky ripped it apart.  

 

Clint took the ends of it and put it on the crossbow he had brought with, reading Bucky's similar train of thought.  Both boys were pretty much on the same wavelength when it came to weaponry.

 

"I'll get you a new one," Natasha promised.

 

"Don't let Tony build it," Darcy insisted, leaning heavily into Steve, who was shouldering nearly all of her weight, and he didn't seem to be straining at all, which was seriously strange.  

 

"Never," Natasha promised her with a wink.  

 

"PLANE!" Sam bellowed from down by the docks.  "Jane's hotwired the damn plane, let's go!"

 

“Hold on to me, Sparky,” Steve said softly against Darcy’s ear before he wrapped his hand around her hip and hauled her to his side, taking off for the docks.  

 

“I can run,” Darcy insisted.  “You’re going to put yourself into an asthma attack, Steven.”

 

Steve felt a thrill run through him.  Darcy calling him Steven was a good sign.  It was her pet name for him.  It meant that nothing was broken so badly, that she didn’t hate him for what she’d learned.  He shook his head and power walked very quickly with her against the side of his body.

 

“I’m not taking any chances of you getting trampled on by a big green monster man,” Steve huffed out as they hightailed it to the plane.  “You’re too important to me, Darcy.  I’m going to keep you safe.”

  
  


Clint and Bucky finished their electrified trip wire before taking off after Steve, Darcy and the others as they all rushed towards the largest of the puddle jumpers that Jane had managed to make come to life.  The plane should only sit eight comfortably, but they managed to jam themselves in, with Darcy sitting on Steve's lap and Lang on the floor, handcuffed securely to the pilot's chair.  

 

"No offense, Janie, really, none intended," Sam strapped a seat belt meant for one around Steve and Darcy both.  "But do you know how to fly this thing?"

 

"How hard could it be?" Jane shrugged.  

 

"Go.  Go.  Go now!" Cameron shouted in a panic as he watched the surveillance from the bot Tony was still piloting.  He watched as that gargantuan green monster drug his foot on the line that Clint and Bucky had set up.  The high voltage that he was sure Bucky had set it at seemed to only annoy the monster, didn't even so much as stun him.

 

The thing bent over, gripped the sparking wire in his hand and roared up at the sky in annoyance.

 

“His shorts are ridiculous,” Scott put in calmly as he watched the green dude continue to make noise.  “Like, where did he find ripped up daisy dukes in his size?  And like, he couldn’t spring for a ripped up shirt too?”

 

“Looks like they were normal pants, that he just ripped through,” Cameron nodded.  He caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the wrist of the monster and furrowed his brow, zooming in with the controls on his tablet and taking a screenshot.  The tattoo was familiar.  It was distorted and warped, but it was familiar.

 

“So...he was a dude before he turned into THAT?” Sam shook his head in disbelief. “Worst party trick ever.”

 

After a bumpy start, Jane had the plane in the air, even as the green monster came crashing down the beach towards them.  

 

"What about everyone else on the island?" Darcy suddenly voiced concern for the people that had welcomed them there just the day before.  She was looking out of the window, watching as the green thing swatted at Tony's bot, before he finally succeeded in grabbing it and crushing it in a powerful, large, green fist.  

 

Cam wrinkled his nose at the loss of the surveillance feed and peered down at the beach.

 

"Where'd he go?" Darcy demanded.

 

"Poof, gone," Clint shook his head in disbelief.  "Seriously, was it an illusion?  Like one of Stark's holograms, cause all offense to Stark, his holograms are shit compared to that hologram."

 

"It wasn't a hologram," Steve shook his head, his arms securely wrapped around Darcy's waist.  "You could feel the ground shaking when it stepped.  And look---"

 

Steve pointed to the road and sure enough they could see a very large footprint shaped hole in the concrete where Bucky and Clint had set up their trap.

 

"Where to?  Where's Banner?" Jane demanded.

 

"Safe somewhere on another island," Thor assured her from his place right beside her.  "Shall we check another of the islands close by?"

 

"No, I know where we need to go," Tony shook his head, typing something into his phone.  "JARVIS?  Can you take us to Stark-tini-ville?"

 

"Certainly, Ms. Foster, please direct the plane at a forty-five degree angle and then straighten your course for approximately one half of an hour," JARVIS advised.  "Your destination will be in view at that point."

 

"Where are we going?" Steve asked.  

 

"To visit my Pop," Tony nodded.  "He has to be involved in all of this, and I think we deserve answers now."

 

"Not to be a party pooper, but can you guys like, drop me off at my place before you go?" Scott asked.  

 

"Where do you live?" Clint wondered.

 

"Juvenile Detention Center in Trenton, New Jersey."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


	11. Like Father, Like Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing Howard and Peggy. I'm not nervous, I'm just over here dry heaving. We're good. We're cool. We're good. I hope that you enjoy this one

 

**Chapter Eleven: Like Father Like Son**

* * *

 

"Needs more thrust."

 

"Howard, it does not need more thrust.  Stop it."

 

"Hey, _you_ , little lady, are not a mechanics expert," Howard gave his best friend an arched eyebrow.  "Where's your hubs at?  I thought he would have kept you on a tighter leash in your retirement."

 

"Daniel is bathing by the sea, enjoying his vacation," Peggy Carter rolled her eyes.  "I, on the other hand, have to babysit a man well into his senior citizenship so that he doesn't accidentally blow away the entire island that he invited me to in order to celebrate my retirement."

 

"We ain't exactly here to relax, and you know it," Howard smirked.  He looked offended for a second and said, "I'm barely fifty-two years old, how dare you insinuate that I'm a senior citizen!  I'm in the prime of my life!"

  
  


"Tell that to this little bottle of blue pills I found in your medicine cabinet," Peggy smiled at him, shaking the aforementioned bottle of pills.

 

"Those are recreational!" Howard balked.  He paused and looked petulant.  "And also mine, give them back."

 

A beeping sound from one of Howard's delightfully old fashioned computers interrupted the bickering pair of old friends.  Howard turned to it and laughed.

 

"Ahead of schedule," he shook his head in wonder.  "And coming by air instead of boat.  No wonder they're a day early.  How they hell did they get a plane?  Did Fury give those little bastards a plane?"

 

"Stark, your son is on that plane and yet you refer to them in such a way?" Peggy scolded.

 

"Well, he's the very definition of a bastard," Howard shrugged.  He was thankful when Peggy didn't push at it.  He hated to think of the fact that he never got to marry Maria and make Tony legitimate.  She had been taken from the both of them too soon.

 

"And it's Jane," Peggy shrugged.  "She's surprisingly good at hot wiring vehicles.  Cars.  Golf carts.  Once she hot wired an ice cream truck at the age of 11 and she and Darcy gave out treats to the entire neighborhood, free of charge."

 

"What a bunch of interesting gals," Howard smirked.  "So glad that they're my son's new peers."

 

"They will be good for Tony," Peggy insisted.  And she should know better than anyone.  She had been their vice principal for over a decade, moving along from elementary school to middle to high school.  It was only this year where she had to leave them, as Fury needed her on different projects than running the day to day at the school.  It was for the best.  And it wouldn't be long until she had all of her little ducklings back under her wings again.

 

She was sure that once their feathers were unruffled, they would be happy to see her once more.

 

"Come along, Howard, let's go and greet them, shall we?" Peggy wondered.  

 

"But...the thrust," Howard stared longingly at his contraption he had been tinkering with.

 

"NOW HOWARD."

 

* * *

 

 

"This is YOUR island?" Scott wondered of Tony as he hovered on his knees and tried to get a better look as Jane expertly landed the plane on the water near the docks.  

 

"It's my Dad's island," Tony shrugged.

 

"Holy shit," Scott murmured.

 

"HEY, sticky fingers!" Tony pointed at Scott accusingly.  “I’m going to pat you down at the end of this.”

 

"I won't take your dad's crap," Scott rolled his eyes.  "I only steal when someone pays me to do it."

 

"I don't give a shit about my dad's crap," Tony smirked.  "Just don't steal anything from MY bungalow."

 

"You have your own bungalow?" Clint asked curiously.  "Dibs on the first bathroom break in it!"

 

"Ugh, I'm digging you a hole in the sand outside, you human toxic waste dump," Tony wrinkled his nose before he went to the door on the plane.  He tossed out a rope and pulled the puddle jumper closer to the dock so that everyone could simply hop right over.  Tony smirked as the last three people on the plane, Bucky, Steve and Darcy, had a silent argument on who would jump over to the dock with Darcy safely.

 

Bucky won out, because Darcy detangled herself from Steve completely once there was breathing room.  Her little hand clutched at the bottom of Bucky's shirt and he reached for her and bent over as she climbed aboard his back again.  

 

Steve did his best to hide his pout before following them.  And Tony followed him.

 

"Rogers, don't think I didn't see that thing that you did earlier," Tony muttered at him.  

 

"What, that thing where I yelled a bunch of orders at my friends?" Steve wondered.  "They don't mind it so long as it keeps us all alive and you know, not arrested."

 

"Not quite. That thing you did with the vial of virgin blue goo," Tony smirked before walking quickly away from Steve to the front of the group that was standing stock still as two adults walked towards them.  "Daddio.  Sorry we didn't call first, but something big, mean and green attacked us on our vacation, so we had to escape.  And we thought, well, what should we do, but probably go to the guy who funded everything and plotted it out with Fury.  So what do you say, pops?  Want to make a big confession?"

 

"Ms. Carter?" Darcy furrowed her brow.  "What are you doing here?"

 

"Aunt Peg's a good family friend," Tony revealed.  "I've known her since I was born.  Which is probably why she always let me do whatever I wanted to do in school and never got me in too much trouble."

 

"Who is your friend, children?" Peggy asked, surveying how Natasha was manhandling the young man in handcuffs.

 

"Scott Lang," Natasha revealed.  "Virgin thief, apparently."

 

"Oh, you managed to get it," Howard's eyes widened as Darcy pulled out the vial of blue mystery liquid.  "That's never happened before."

 

"Why?" Steve demanded.

 

"Usually the seeker was unworthy," Howard shrugged.  "Interesting.  So Lang's the one that got it?"

 

"uhm," Scott looked to Steve warily.

 

"Yeah, he's the one that got it," Steve insisted, not looking anyone in the eye directly, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Natasha.

 

"Then, come on, virgin," Howard grinned.  "You need to go and get your shots."

 

* * *

 

 

"Steve," Natasha said sternly from the other side of the door to the private bedroom that Steve had stomped into earlier as soon as they had hit Tony's bungalow.  Bungalow was not an apt description for the literal mansion that Tony called his island home.  Everyone could have their own room, although knowing them, they would all wind up sleeping in the large entertainment room on the first floor.  

 

Everyone except for Steve, of course, who had ostracized himself from everyone immediately.

 

"Go away, Natasha," Steve called out.  

 

"No," Natasha scoffed.  "How long are you going to keep up this lie?"

 

"Don't know what you're talking about," Steve grumbled.

 

"Steve, Mr. Stark and Ms. Carter are preparing to give Lang an injection of what you took from that cave," Natasha said softly.  "Do you think that's a good idea?"

 

"Seems like it," Steve didn't sound so sure.  Steve actually sounded very conflicted.

 

"Please, this is a mistake," Natasha insisted.  "I don't know what happened between you and Helen, but lying about it is a mistake."

 

"Not lying," Steve mumbled, CLEARLY lying.

 

"You're hurting Darcy," Natasha said bluntly.  "You've  _ broken _ her heart.  What lie could be worth that?"

 

Steve tore the door open and glared openly at Natasha.  Her face was full of sympathy though and his anger flew from his sails.

 

"I never wanted to hurt Darcy.  It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done in my whole life, hurting her like this," he said sincerely.  "But Helen needed help."

 

"Alright," Natasha nodded.  "But now we have to make sure that something disastrous doesn't happen.  I won't let anyone know, and I'll make sure that Lang complies.  We have to get you to the main house, now, before Scott gets anything shot into him that's meant for you.  Who knows what it would do to the wrong person."

 

"What about Mr. Stark and Ms. Carter?" Steve wondered, stepping out of the room he had claimed regardless.

 

"I'm sure we don't have to worry about them," Natasha shook her head.  "Call it a gut feeling, but I think we can trust the two of them."

 

"I always do trust your gut feelings, Nat.  C'mon.  Let's go."

 

* * *

 

 

"Mr. Lang, are you quite certain that you were the one to take the serum out of the cave?" Peggy Carter wondered thoughtfully, looking over the boy who was sitting on a lab bench, looking sweaty and pale.

 

"Uhm.  Yeah?" Scott shrugged.  "I mean, sure.  I know I look like a ladies' man.  But I'm totally a virgin.  I mean, I've spent the last four years in a juvenile detention center that houses only dudes, so there's that.  And like, I'm straight but not narrow.  I'll totally march in a parade for support if you want, but I'm not quite...you know.  So it’s not like I could have lost it at school. Although that Barnes dude is hot and if he had gone to my school I might not have met the virgin eligibility requirements.  I can say that easily.  Seriously.  Hot."

 

"He's well aware of it too," Peggy smirked.  She watched as Howard got the injections ready, looking at a very old set of instructions that had never really been used before.  

 

Scott sweated some more.

 

"Mr. Lang, are you positive?" Peggy wondered.

 

"Sure?" Scott seemed less than positive.

 

"I'm only saying this because if you weren't the one to retrieve the serum, this could have a very adverse effect on your personal health," Peggy said thoughtfully.

 

"How adverse?" Scott wondered.

 

"Death."

 

"Oh great.  Uhm, you should probably bring Steve Rogers down here.  Like right now.  I'm not doing this, LANG OUT."

 

* * *

 

 

"Why are you being so cuddly?  Where is Nat?" Darcy demanded as Bucky had her wrapped up in his very cuddly arms on a lovely little rocking swing out in front of Tony's bungalow.  

 

"Thought you liked my cuddles, kid," Bucky pouted.

 

"You're the cuddliest," Darcy nodded.  "But where is Nat?"

 

"She's taking care of something for me," Bucky shrugged.

 

Darcy inch wormed her way out of Bucky's embrace and gave him a quirk of her eyebrow.  "Taking care of some ONE for you?"

 

"Not like that, kiddo," Bucky insisted.

 

"Is she kicking Steve's butt?  Because she doesn't NEED to," Darcy insisted.  "I never told Steve how I felt about him, how could he even know he was hurting my feelings by being with Helen?  And he's his own person, if he didn't want me that way, he could still go and be with Helen.  Steve owed me nothing."

 

"That's bull and you know it," Bucky disputed.  Never mind the fact that he had a strong suspicion that Steve was lying.  But still, Darcy was wrong in her way of thinking and he intended to set her straight. "The way you two have been with each other these past few years, Steve owed you everything.  He loves you, kiddo."

 

"That's not true," Darcy sighed, she hopped up on a still tender foot and said, "Where are they?  I'm going to make sure she doesn't rearrange his face."

 

"C'mon Sparks, it'd be an improvement," Bucky insisted.

 

"Tell me what they're doing," Darcy ordered, her voice commanding and powerful, and Bucky seemed powerless to resist.

 

"She took him to the main house, something about that vial," Bucky said quickly.

 

"Okay.  Giddyup horsie, Darcy needs a ride."

 

* * *

 

  
  


"STOP!" Natasha called out as she kicked the door to Howard's lab in.

 

"No need for dramatics, Natasha," Peggy called out gaily.  "Scott's confessed.  We were just waiting for Steve."

 

"I'm not dramatic," Natasha disputed.

 

Peggy arched a knowing eyebrow at her and Natasha shrugged, "Only a little, when the situation calls for it."

 

"Hello, Steven," Peggy smiled at Steve warmly.  "It took you long enough to change your mind.  This could have been disastrous."

 

"I don't understand what you mean," Steve said softly, looking down at his feet.

 

"If we had given the serum to Mr. Lang, he might have died.  Or worse, changed into something unholy," Peggy said gently.

 

"The only time this has been tried in history was at the last games," Howard came forward, verbal diarrhea always at the ready.  "The guy had a pure hearted virgin maiden go out and fetch the serum when the time came, and then took it and boom, became something that was entirely nasty and not at all pleasant.  Red skinned devil man, really."

 

"And Steve won't become nasty and not at all pleasant?" Natasha questioned, looking behind Tony's dad to see the vial had been split amongst a few injectors in an apparatus.

 

"I have a plan," Howard beamed.

 

"Are your plans like Tony's?" Natasha countered.  "Because if so, not interested."

 

"Steven," Peggy interrupted.  She smiled at Steve again. As an educator, it wasn’t right to have favorites, but Peggy never did things by the book.  Steve had always been her favorite out of all the students.  Natasha was a very close second.  "This has never been successfully done.  There has never been someone to retrieve the vial who actually deserved it and then took it.  But we have very good reason to believe that you're worthy of it, and it will do only good for you."

 

"I do have a plan," Howard piped up.  

 

"What's your plan, Mr. Stark?" Steve asked.

 

"A mentor of mine, Erskine, God rest his soul, came up with a purifying light.  Zaps bacteria, zaps germs, zaps bad stuff.  I figured a way to make it more powerful.  Like Vitamin rays," Howard rambled.  "Either way, if this thing starts doing bad, the rays will shut it down.  So what do you say young man, want to make history?"

 

"Alright," Steve nodded.   "Let's do this."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bouncing on the tips of my toes because we're finally getting to where I wanted this to go from the beginning. New origin story, yippee!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	12. A Different Kind of Puberty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI! I'm dancing around. Because it's here, it's starting, it's here! 
> 
> I really hope that you enjoy this...

 

**Chapter Twelve: A Different Kind of Puberty**

 

* * *

 

 

The last thing Steve Rogers had heard before Howard had shut the door on the closet shaped and sized vessel that the procedure would happen in, was Darcy shouting his name, and Bucky calling out a single ' _ Stop _ ', both of them in clear distress.

 

The panic started quickly then.  The small, metal vessel was dark and almost soundproof.  He could hear the muffled sounds of Darcy and Bucky continuing to shout out in desperation, and after a few moments, he felt a small banging against the door and his heart felt a little strangled at the sound of tears in Darcy's continued shouting of his name.

 

He didn't know what was going to happen here.  But he knew it was necessary.  He felt the keen sting of a needle puncture go through him as whatever it was he had obtained from the cave was injected and suddenly the darkness was replaced with a bright white light, increasing in intensity with every passing second.  Darcy and Bucky could still be heard, but it was fading fast and Steve blinked his eyes, the light being replaced with the interior of the cave that he had retrieved the vial of what Howard had called the Titan's serum.  

 

It was as if he were a ghost.  He could see the scene clearly right in front of him.  He could walk around it with ease and no noise.  He watched as the him from less than twenty-four hours ago took a deep breath and reached out to grab the small vial sitting on a stone pedestal in the middle of the small room made of rock.  

 

The astrally projected Steve took a moment to look around the room.  He hadn't had that liberty before.  He had just run into the room, taken a deep breath and grabbed the vial, keen to get back to Darcy at the time.  But now, he supposed he had time and was surprised to find that the walls were covered with beautifully intricate and detailed stone carvings.  They had tableaus, spelling out a story.  He went to the closest wall and saw a large and horrific beast carved in the center of a scene of action, surrounded by much smaller human figures.  

 

The humans weren't quite human though.  One looked to be flying.  Another had electricity thunderbolts coming from his fingertips. There was even one that seemed to be in miniature.  They were fighting the huge thing, and his eyes were drawn to a figure away from the action. A small female shape with her hands held to her head as she surveyed the entire scene.  

 

Astral Steve slowly brought his hand up to the carving and went to touch the little carving of the girl when he heard Scott shouting at his other self, who had already picked up the vial.

 

As his wispy, ghost like fingers reached out to touch the stone carving Steve felt a pull of pain and shouted out in horror.  Something tugged on him, as if an unseen hand had their grip on his ribs, yanking him away and into more bright light.

 

He opened his eyes and felt a sort of peace and he couldn't help but wonder if he was dead.

 

The light receded and he decided he wasn't dead.  But this was certainly heaven.

 

"G'morning," Darcy whispered.  "You alright?"

 

"Perfect," he answered, looking down.  He was no longer an astral projection.  It was as if he was sharing the body with someone else.  He could feel Darcy's small hand resting on his chest as she spooned him from behind, pressing sleep warm, bare curves against his back.

 

He didn't think he'd ever get used to the feeling of this body.  One year later and it was still an oddity. It had been a blessing, definitely, but still, odd to wake up to.  

 

He'd take the odd though, because waking up with Darcy pressed against him was more than enough to make up for it.

 

"C'mon, bodyguard, we've got work to do," Darcy sighed.  "Let's grab a shower."

 

"Let's stay here," Steve suggested.

 

"Not gonna happen, Steven," Darcy pressed her lips between his shoulder blades.  "Fury needs us to get the intel today.  It'll be easy.  We walk down to the UN, you buy us a couple of hot dogs, while I wait to put the voodoo on the ambassador.  Easy peasy.  Lemon squeezy."

 

"Sparky, let's just stay in bed forever, please?" Steve asked hopefully.

 

"Nope, not going to happen," Darcy shook her head.  "Don't make me use the voice, Steve.  C'mon.  Up and at them."

 

Steve turned over in the bed, towards Darcy and he pinned her down with the considerable bulk to his body.  The upgraded version of himself had advantages that were not limited to fighting.  Most of the best things had been discovered and thoroughly investigated six months ago, with Darcy.

 

"Are you alright?" Darcy's voice didn't match the sultry little expression on her face and Steve realized it was coming from much further away.

 

He blinked, and the wonderful feeling of being in bed with her, of that calm, peaceful feeling of knowing they were together and knowing that their relationship was loving and secure disappeared and when he opened his eyes again, that feeling was in the background of his heart, definitely, but the forefront was full of danger and fire and about a million different action scenarios all at once.

 

"Cap, you alive, man?  Barnes, get your guy in check!" a foreign voice roared out over the sounds of a fight.  

 

"Steve, c'mon, what's going on?" Bucky was in front of him suddenly, waving a hand in front of his face.  "Pay attention, you're gonna get yourself killed, fancy new body or not!"

 

Steve blinked and watched as Bucky effortlessly turned while simultaneously pulling out two handguns, letting them fire and pulling down two...robots?  Aliens?  A combination of the two?  The guns didn't fire bullets, but let out two little beams of energy that caused the unidentifiable attackers to explode.  Steve brought up the shield in his hand and covered both he and Bucky from the aftermath of the blast.  

 

"STARK!  Stop messing with my guns, they don't need more power!" Bucky shouted out.

 

"Everything needs more power," Stark answered back and Steve could hear him through a little comm unit in his ear.

 

Steve took a breath and turned his head as Bucky looked around on his person for a weapon that might not have been upgraded by Stark.  He squinted and saw Clint from afar, letting arrow after arrow fly through the air, imbedding themselves into countless of whatever was attacking them.  He was providing cover for someone that Steve had never seen before, but his eyes widened imperceptibly when he saw the young man, in his early twenties at best, hold up fists to an advancing enemy.  Shiny metal claws protruded from his flesh and he used those to wreak havoc on the metal bodied androids.

 

"I could use some smash time over here," Natasha's voice echoed in the comm.  "Firecrotch isn't cutting it anymore."

 

An answering roar, one familiar to Steve, as he had just heard it from the giant green monster on the island some hours ago.  Sure enough, the large green man beast came crashing through the bramble, tossing and throwing away the enemy as if they were made out of cardboard.  Apparently, he was friendly, as he completely ignored the man with the claws and Natasha, who was the only person who seemed normal, fighting with the same utter competence and deadly grace that she always had.  She was stronger though, he could tell.

 

"STEVE!" Darcy's shout echoed around the battlefield.

 

He blinked again and it was to a light so bright that it was making noise in the small space.  The noise was almost loud enough to compete with the screams of pain.  

 

_ His _ screams of pain.

 

Something was happening to him.  He could feel muscles breaking and knitting together.  A torturing pull on his bones that felt like he was being pulled apart.  Everything was too much.  Too close.  Too painful.  Darcy's distress had been muffled before, and now it was loud in his ears.

 

He opened his mouth to speak and felt almost like his jaw had been broken as he mumbled out a broken,

 

"M'okay..."

  
  


* * *

 

 

"OPEN IT!" Darcy screamed.  "STEVE!"

 

Bucky was trying to hold Darcy back from getting into the container they had stuffed Steve into.  She had clawed at it at the first sounds of his pain.  As it continued, intensifying with every passing moment, Darcy began flinging herself at the thing in an attempt to get it open.  He'd finally got a hold on her when she'd managed to scratch her right forearm open, the sight of her bleeding breaking through his panic for Steve.  She had drawn blood from him too, scratching at the arms that banded around her.

 

"Darcy," Natasha said calmly from across the room where she had goggles on and protective gear that was mirrored on Howard Stark and Peggy Carter.  "Calm down, Steve knows what he's doing."

 

"He's hurting!" Darcy countered.  She glared between Howard and Peggy and her voice was a command.  "Open it now."

 

Peggy blinked rapidly, going through the steps she and Fury had developed years ago so that she could regain her center without doing Darcy's immediate bidding.  It had only taken one instance of Fury cancelling school for National Donut Day when Darcy was eleven for them to realize that the girl was destined for the Games.  And also quite a handful.

 

Howard, however, had ignored that packet of information provided to all adults working with the group of young people, declaring the cute little seventeen year old completely harmless. He realized that the buttery warm compliance dripping down his spine felt like a drug and while it felt great, he had the definite notion that it was the wrong kind of great.  His hands flew on the old fashioned computer keyboard in order to follow Darcy’s command and Peggy tried to stop him, but he was clearly intent on doing what Darcy wanted.

 

He shoved Peggy away and went to hit execute on the quick program he had just written to open the chamber mid-procedure when Peggy tackled him to the ground.  

 

"NATASHA!" Darcy yelled as the two adults grappled and wrestled on the floor, with Peggy coming out the clear victor, pinning him down.

 

"Darcy, Steve said he wanted to do this, to help," Natasha shook her head, although a shout of pain and terror from Steve had her wavering.

  
  


"Natasha, finish that program and open this thing," Darcy said firmly.

 

Natasha sighed, wavering between doing what Darcy wanted and what she knew Steve had asked of her.  She looked to Bucky then, who was clearly worried with the state of both of his best friends.  

 

"Please, Natasha," Darcy begged.  "Open it."

 

Natasha nodded and went to the computer that Howard had been working on, making quick work of the overly simplified program before continuing to type what Howard had tried to finish.  Peggy grumbled from the floor and reached back a capable fist before letting it fly in Howard's face, effectively knocking him out.  She hopped off of Howard and went for Natasha this time, cracking her neck and sighing.  She was retired, after all.  She had thought her days of literally wrestling children to the ground were behind her.

 

And of all the children to have to engage in fisticuffs with, it had to be Natasha.  Because the universe loved her just that much.  She would have much preferred to have to stop Tony physically.  He might have been as easy to take down as Howard had been.  

 

She put a hand on Natasha's shoulder and the red head ducked out of it, spun around and let out a more than capable swipe of her right arm that landed on Peggy's temple, making her stumble backwards and away.  Nonplussed, Natasha went right back to work.

 

Peggy kept trying though, and it took three more attacks before she managed to evade Natasha's strike and pushed the girl against the computer, managing to scrape the girl's elbow as she fell to the ground.  Peggy was glad that Howard was knocked out for what happened next, because no sooner than Natasha had fallen, then Peggy soon found herself flat on her own back, having Natasha reach out with her legs and twist her body so that it crumpled against the ground.

 

"Don't do this, Natasha," Peggy begged, even as the girl reached for a length of electrical cords and effectively hog tied Peggy so that she lay helpless on the ground.  "We can't know what would happen if it doesn't finish!  You could kill him."

 

Steve sounded like he was dying anyway.  Natasha distinctly heard the snapping of bones from across the room.  She went back to the computer and huffed out an irritated breath.  The process was nearly complete already.  By the time she managed to execute the program, the doors would have opened in five seconds anyway.

 

Bucky let Darcy go as the doors to the little chamber opened, and he was dumbstruck by what he saw as the light receded.  Darcy didn't seem to be concerned with what Steve now looked like, she blinked against the last of the harsh light before reaching for the little vial of mysterious blue liquid and yanked it out of the apparatus.  There was less than a quarter of an inch of the stuff left in it, and the vial was boiling hot to the touch, so hot that she hissed out in pain and threw the vial on the ground near Bucky's feet, the leftover liquid instantaneously vaporizing and going into the air.

 

"Holy cow," Bucky breathed out in astonishment, looking to where Steve was strapped into the vessel.  Darcy still seemed blind to it as she began undoing the restraints keeping a heavily breathing Steve inside.

 

Natasha stood next to Bucky suddenly and they watched in stunned silence as Darcy got the last strap undone.  Steve nearly collapsed against Darcy, going boneless for a moment and she could barely support his weight.

 

His  _ considerable _ weight.

 

Because Steve was no longer five feet four inches and one hundred pounds soaking wet.  Even hunched over as he was against Darcy, Steve was well over six feet tall and looked about as broad and muscled as a barn through his shoulders.

 

"Am I really seeing this?" Natasha whispered to Bucky, taking in deep breaths as he watched Steve's very impressive pectoral muscles heaving as he caught his breath with relative ease.  She and Darcy kept inhalers on their person at all times, just in case, but it didn't look like he would be needing it.

 

"What'd they do to him?" Bucky whispered back.  

 

"Said if he wasn't worthy of it, he'd wind up some kind of monster," Natasha shrugged.  "Said that whatever change it would do would be what we needed to survive."

 

"Holy Cow," Bucky repeated, he took a deep breath through his nostrils and nearly choked as the fumes from the vaporized liquid that Darcy had thrown down worked its way into he and Natasha's blood stream.  He coughed and looked to Natasha in a panic that was mirrored on her own face.

  
  


Steve straightened up, and Darcy looked at him fully.  Her gaze fell where it normally did to look in his eyes and she furrowed her brow to see a big, poofy, sweaty pectoral muscle heaving up and down right in front of her eyes.  She opened her mouth to speak, but only a squeaking noise came out so she slammed her lips closed again.  Her head tilted towards the left before her eyes made the slow move up to finally look in Steve’s eyes.  He was looking down at her, hesitant and confused, all of the visions he had just had swirling around in his consciousness, but slipping away fast.  He knew what she felt like.  He  _ knew  _ how it felt that first time for them and every time after that, but he blinked and suddenly it was gone.

 

When the last little piece of his prophetic knowledge disappeared he finally blinked and looked down at himself in confusion.  He wasn’t used to seeing the top of Darcy’s head.  And he wasn’t used to being able to pull so much air into his lungs.  And he wasn’t used to feeling as tall and strong as a giant oak tree.  

 

"You're gigantic.  Also, you're bleeding," Darcy fretted, going to the injection site on Steve's right bicep and wiping at the drops of blood there.  Her brows knitted together in confusion as the wound healed before her eyes, closing off.  One drop of the blue stuff that had been on Steve's skin around the injection site dropped off of his arm and fell, and both Darcy and Steve watched as it fell on her own arm, going right into the open wound she had there.

 

"Uh oh."

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the bit with Steve's transformation was a little disjointed, and I think I wanted it to be that way. I read something once that when people are in a lot of pain, their brain does what it can to shield them from it? So Steve had visions. Where they prophetic? 
> 
> I think we'll have to wait and see!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	13. Bathroom Buddies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every chapter of this story makes me more excited. I can't explain why.

**Chapter Thirteen: Bathroom Buddies**

* * *

 

 

"Holy Methusaleh, that's a lot of shoulder."

 

 

 

Steve huffed out something between a sigh and a chuckle at Jane's declaration.  They had gone back to Tony's bungalow with the rest of the team.  Peggy and Howard had wanted to keep Steve behind for testing, but Darcy had put her foot down.  And her bossy tone of voice down, and said that any tests that needed to be run could be run the next morning.  Peggy had at least looked like she wanted to argue, but Natasha had ushered them all out of Howard's lab before their retired vice principal could.  

 

 

Jane poked at Steve's overabundance of shoulder and shook her head in astonishment.  

 

 

"Who in the ever loving hell is that?" Tony demanded as he walked into the common room from the patio where the group had been toasting marshmallows around an open fire.  His mouth pursed as he looked Steve up and down appraisingly.  A look of recognition sparked in his eyes as he stared at Steve's nose for an extended moment, but Tony shook his head in disbelief.  "What the hell happened to you, Rogers?"

 

 

"Uhm...something in the vial," Steve shrugged those massive shoulders that Jane was still poking at.  His voice was still the same at the very least.  "Your dad and Vice Principal Carter figured it out."

 

 

"Stark!  I require more chocolate!" Thor called out as he came into the room.  He cocked his head to the side like a confused, golden puppy before grinning slightly down at Steve.  "I am glad to still be taller, at least."

 

 

"You know something," Natasha accused, from her place behind Steve with Bucky and Darcy.  She had been happy that Darcy had managed to get them out of there.  It was very clear that all three of them had been exposed to some form of what had made Steve into the well muscled goliath he now was.  

 

 

They had each silently decided that this was a secret they would be happy to keep from the adults in their lives.  Because even Vice Principal Carter couldn't really be trusted at that point.  

 

 

"Jesus Christ, who ordered the side of beef?" Clint demanded.  His eyes widened in recognition and he demanded, "STEVE?  Who did you EAT, dude?"

 

 

Darcy finally moved from her place behind Steve, where she had been gripping onto the fabric on the back of the shirt he had sadly put on, borrowed from Bucky, and still straining at the seams under the force of new, and quite frankly, terrifying muscles.  She walked to the kitchen and reached for the chocolate bars that had been delivered to the bungalow a few hours ago.  She tossed them to Thor and nodded.

 

 

"Story time, buddy.  C'mon.  I'll make sure your marshmallow is extra toasty."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone had gathered around the fire pit, still staring at Steve in wonder as Thor got another batch of s'mores going before he put his hands on his thighs and stared around at his friends with a grin.

 

 

"Surely you all have fables in your American culture," Thor nodded.  "Mythology."

 

 

"We have a lot of them," Sam assured him.  "We're kind of a melting pot here, buddy.  But we don't have one where a small fry become a potato field in the span of a few hours."

 

 

"We have tales of the Yingley Games back at home," Thor revealed.

 

 

"And you're just telling us NOW?" Natasha demanded.

 

 

"You didn't ask," Thor said simply, leveling a regal look Natasha's way.  "Shall I continue or would you like to continue questioning me?"

 

 

"Please, go on," Natasha arched an eyebrow at him.

 

 

"The first games are said to have been played in the time of Titans and Gods.  As a sort of amusement for them," Thor began.  "They chose their teams of heroes... small and insignificant humans and had them battle each other to the death."

 

 

"Doesn't seem quite heroic," Scott mumbled.

 

 

"Yes, they grew bored quickly, you can only watch normal spears through the chest and messy beheadings so much before you get very bored," Thor reasoned.  "So it was decided to imbue powers on the chosen champions."

 

 

"Powers?  Are we getting powers?  I did not sign up for powers," Jane fretted.

 

 

"It's a legend, Jane.  A fairy tale," Helen assured her.  Although her eyes slid to Steve, and she realized very quickly that maybe some fairy tales and legends were based in fact.

 

 

"No, if we are worthy, we will gain powers as well," Thor assured her.  "Yours will certainly be clever, my Jane."

 

 

"Holy cow," Bucky muttered, feeling a stabbing pain go up his spine.  He winced and looked to Natasha, seeing that she was feeling the same thing.  Something was definitely happening.  He turned concerned eyes to Darcy then, wondering if she was feeling something too from their exposure to the super juice that had made Steve into a bodybuilder.  She was staring straight at Thor, concern on her face, but no pain.

 

 

"Different Gods imbued their powers on their chosen humans," Thor continued.  "The control of fire.  The ability to see in the future.  The power of flight."

 

 

"I'm TOTALLY going to be able to fly," Clint whispered excitedly.

 

 

"And the greatest of gifts was the Titan's Potion.  It was meant for only the worthiest of humans, and would transform them into a perfect specimen," Thor turned a smug smile to Steve, who he was happy to note was still slightly shorter than him, and certainly, his biceps were not quite so big as Thor's own.  So clearly, perfection could be improved upon.  "However, finding someone that could be given the serum proved to be a problem.  The competitors were not chosen with care.  Those that tried did not fare well."

 

 

"Some guy turned red?" Scott stopped staring at Steve's barrel of a chest for the first time in fifteen whole minutes.  "Some died.  But one guy turned into a red monster."

 

 

"Shit," Bucky whispered, feeling a cold sweat come over him.  He jackknifed in his seat and put his forehead against his knees.  Natasha put a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed back and forth in soothing little swipes.  He didn't want to turn into a monster.  What in the hell had they all gotten into?  Steve had turned into a perfect specimen, but he knew Steve was worthy of anything.  He wasn't so convinced of his own chances at coming out of the other end normal.

 

 

' _You're okay_ ,' Darcy's voice echoed in his ears.  ' _You're okay, Bucky. I promise.  Nothing bad is going to happen to you_.'

 

 

"You don't know that, Sparks," Bucky grumbled, looking back up to strange looks from the rest of his friends.  He swallowed and shook his head even as Helen tried to open her mouth to ask a question.  "I gotta piss."

 

 

He hopped out of his seat and was off like a rocket.  Quickly followed by Natasha, who was keeping it together far better than him.  Darcy and Steve looked at each then, Darcy's eyes hitting his chin where they normally would have looked into his eyes.  She adjusted and looked up, seeing the concern and worry there.  Steve felt a blanket of calm take over him suddenly, like a blanket had been thrown over his shoulders, even though Darcy hadn't made a move, just stared at him.

 

 

He remained seated, feeling that calming warmth that he knew was coming straight from Darcy.  Even after she silently hopped out of her seat and went chasing after Bucky and Natasha.  Scott furrowed his brow at her abrupt departure.

 

 

"You guys have a weird peeing procedure here."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"You feel it too, right?" Bucky paced the luxurious bathroom on the other side of the bungalow.  Natasha was perched on the ledge of the large, deep bathtub, looking as calm as she ever did.  Except for one little line between her brows, which was only noticeable because Bucky was kneeling in front of her, his hands on her hips, his face half an inch away from her own face.  "Feels like something's changing."

 

 

"I do," Natasha nodded.  "But you heard Steve's pain when he was changing, obviously it's not strong enough to affect us the same way."

 

 

"I don't want to be a monster," Bucky whispered desperately.  

 

 

' _James Buchanan Barnes, you could never be a monster_.'

 

 

Natasha flinched and sapphire blue eyes darted around the bathroom that only contained herself and Bucky.

 

 

"That's new," she murmured.  "I heard that too."

 

 

"Christ, we're going crazy," Bucky closed his eyes, leaning forward and letting his foreheard rest against Natasha's.

 

 

Darcy opened the door and came into the bathroom, and Bucky took a deep breath.  He had thought he voice had come from nowhere and went directly to his brain.  She had just been on the other side of the door though.  

 

 

"Well, maybe not totally crazy," Natasha sighed.  "Are you alright, Darcy?"

 

 

"I don't feel any different," Darcy shrugged, pulling up the bandaid she had slapped onto her scratch when they came back to the bungalow.  "Oh.  Well, there's that, though."

 

 

Bucky and Natasha were both off of their feet and inspected Darcy's wound, and their jaws dropped when they saw that there was no longer a wound.  Bucky checked his own and grimaced to see that his own cuts had mended.  Natasha did the same and took in a slow, controlled breath.

 

 

"We need answers," Natasha said quickly.  "Now."

 

 

"How do we get them, though?" Darcy shrugged.  "Thor's telling stories, and who knows if they were based on truth from so long ago..."

 

 

Natasha nodded and tried to organize her thoughts.  She felt a small pull when Darcy reached out and grabbed her hand.  It was as if there were a small line attached around her waist and all of a sudden, something yanked at it.  And then she felt calm warmth radiating out from her gut and she closed her eyes.

 

 

"He's telling the truth," she whispered.  "He doesn't know it, but there's truth there in those stories."

 

 

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph," Bucky whispered, turning away from the girls.  He faced the sink and refused to look at himself in the mirror, hands gripping the porcelain edge tightly.  He was trying to take deep even breaths, but was failing miserably, sounding more like Steve would have sounded during one of his attacks.  Darcy wound her hands around his waist and pressed her cheek into his back, just as she had whenever he'd been down about losing a silly baseball game.  He closed his eyes, unable to look at himself in the mirror, afraid that at any moment he'd grown horns or spikes or something. "Sparks, I don't want to be a monster.  I'm not good like Steve, you know I'm selfish and mean sometimes."

 

 

"That's not true," Darcy disputed.  "And you won't ever be a monster.  I promise."

 

 

She gave a look to Natasha, who was panicking in her own quiet way.  

 

 

"Neither of you," Darcy insisted.  

 

 

Bucky let out a sigh and felt a weird tugging sensation low in his gut and so lovely and warm suddenly.  His eyes flew open and he felt something sharpen inside of him and the edge of the porcelain sink he had gripped in his hands suddenly crumbled to dust in his hands.

 

 

He jumped, even as Darcy remained clinging to him and stationary as a knock echoed against the door.  

 

 

"Are you guys having an orgy in there?  Is that what you meant by taking a leak?  Cause that's not fair!" Scott called out.  "Also, get your butts out here when you're done macking on each other.  Apparently your teacher and your principal are here?  They want to take Steve and put him in science project somewhere, so, you know, you might want to come stop that."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this. Thanks for reading!


	14. Escape from Liar Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stuff happens in this chapter. So much stuff.

  
  


**Chapter Fourteen: Escape from Liar Island**

 

* * *

  
  


Bucky, Natasha and Darcy made their way back to the patio area, but did not go outside, instead, they lurked in the shadows, watching as Principal Fury, former Vice Principal Carter, Howard Stark and Doctor Banner were marveling over Steve's new physique.  The adults were proud and preening like THEY had done the hard work of obtaining the vial of goo or the Titan's serum or whatever they wanted to call it.  Like they were the ones who had gone into that creepy assed chamber and been in so much pain like Steve had been.

 

"We stand a chance now," Fury had the closest thing he could get to a smile on his face.  

 

Natasha stiffened beside Darcy.  The redhead could feel the pull and the warmth again, and she had some presence of mind to realize that something very unusual was happening.  Thor had said they'd all get powers.  

 

' _It's happening sooner because of the serum._ '

 

Darcy's voice echoed in both Bucky and Natasha's ears, even though she hadn't moved her mouth at all.

 

"So strange," Bucky shook his head.  "I always joked with Stevie that you were my little lady Jimminy Cricket in my head, always telling me to pull back when I was 'bout to get a little naughty.  And now there you are."

 

"I can tell Fury's lying," Natasha said softly.  She watched as Dr. Banner stuttered something out about being stuck on the other island until the threat of the green monster had passed.  "Dr. Banner is lying too."

 

"Jesus," Bucky huffed out a breath.  He had a moment of realization and looked to Natasha to see her smirking back at him. "I'm fucking screwed, I'll never even be able to tell a white lie to you."

 

' _Well, what can you do?  Aside from you know, crush things in incredibly strong hands?_ '

 

Bucky shrugged and looked back towards the patio.  He felt Darcy's hand in his suddenly and whatever had happened in the bathroom when he had been so strong for a moment happened again, like the roar of an engine coming to life.

 

In a flash of disconnected visions in his mind he could imagine strolling out on that patio, and completely incapacitating each and every single person on it.  Including the adults.  Including the gun that he knew Peggy Carter had hidden on her person.  Including the super muscles that Steve was currently sporting.  It'd require him to do a little acrobatic flip at one point and his muscles tensed and he knew he could do it.  He could also get one of the chairs smashed to pieces (probably against Sam's back to get him out), and grab one of the metal rods from the legs of the chair, get it in the fire pit, giving him a valuable weapon to inflict pain until Steve was subdued.

 

And if he had to, he knew he could use Darcy there, to get Steve to submit.

 

He shivered and came back, looking to Natasha and Darcy in alarm.

 

"Don't lie," Natasha warned him.

 

"I think I'm good at fighting," Bucky downplayed.  He swallowed dryly.  He had just been able to see himself in technicolor and surround sound doing unspeakable acts of violence against his friends.  Of using Darcy's well being and safety as a way to control Steve.  

 

' _Knowing you can do something and doing it are two different things, Bucky._ '

 

"Yeah," Bucky nodded.  

 

"We're going back to the School immediately," Fury announced.  "We have a lot of training to do until the solstice, and only two weeks to do it."

 

"I don't like this," Bucky flinched from their hiding spot.

 

"He's lying," Natasha shrugged.  She looked to Darcy and asked, "Can you tell what he's thinking?"

 

"I don't think it works that way," Darcy said out loud for the first time in quite a bit of time, her voice breathy and scratchy.  "He's not exactly as open to a connection as my best friends are."

 

"Ask Steve what he wants to do," Bucky encouraged.

 

Darcy pursed her lips and hesitated.  She didn't know if Steve was open to a connection to her brain at the moment either.  

 

"Don't be silly, Darcy-lu," Natasha chided her.  "He loves you."

 

Darcy gave her a look of disbelief in return before nodding and concentrating.

 

' _Steven, what do you want to do?  Natasha says the adults are lying.  I don't think we should trust them._ '

 

Steve's posture on the patio stiffened for one brief before fairly melting at the sound of Darcy's voice in his head.  He got a dopey smile on his face as he let Principal Fury continue to talk at him.  

 

' _Sparky_.'

 

Steve's soothing rumble came into her brain and Darcy jumped in place.  

 

' _I say we strike out on our own.  But how are we gonna get away from them?_ '

 

Darcy turned her head to look at Bucky at first and then Natasha.  

  
  


"Want to try that violence thing out a little?" 

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


Principal Fury had never been so pleased in his entire life.  

 

The transformation of Steve Rogers from scrappy, undergrown teenager into a well muscled marble statue was amazing.  They had said it couldn't be done.  For millennia, at that.  And here he was, the most idealistic, well principled young man Fury had ever encountered, now with the outsides to match the insides.  

 

It would finally be over now.  These would be the last Yingley Games ever played.  Fury was sure of it.

 

Now he had to just get the rest of the kids to the solstice in order for them to come into their own special skill sets.  Two weeks wasn't so bad.  He'd managed to get them all to 18 years.  And every one of his ancestors had managed to get every other piece of the puzzle past the centuries of time they had to wait for this moment.

 

It would really, finally be at an end.

 

Fury prided himself on looking out for the big consequences.  He had been trained by his own Uncle, who had taught him that the bigger picture was more important than the smaller brush strokes that made it up.  It was more important to get the children to this point in time than it was to worry about what exactly they thought about him and his methods of getting them there.

 

So it really shouldn't have been much a surprise that showing a bunch of impressionable children secrecy and cloak and dagger techniques for the entirety of their education had somehow caused the same children to be wary of him and the intentions of every adult on his team.

 

What was a surprise, was that Rogers wasn't the only changed person on the team already.  

 

The twinkle lights on the patio went out, and in the dark of night, the only light was coming from the fire pit and one lone street lamp a little ways off.  Fury did a mental check and knew that the only students currently missing were Barnes, Romanoff and Lewis.  He felt a strong fist collide with the side of his face, and realized that as good of an athlete as Barnes was, he shouldn't have been able to give him an immediate concussion with one hit.  Fury had a metal plate in his head to try and stop that from happening after all, but Barnes had managed it somehow.

 

Romanoff was definitely involved.  He saw a feminine form relentlessly attacking Peggy in the shadows.  It was a smart move.  Peggy was the one adult who had any chance of stopping them from whatever they had planned.

 

A smaller form darted in the shadows, not engaging with the adults, but going to each of the students gathered around the fire.  Fury squinted as a hint of blue flared from a fingertip and illuminated Jane Foster in a brief flash.  

 

This was not good.  

 

Fury had not planned for this.

 

No one had planned for this.

 

"What the hell, Stark?  You gave the serum to Lewis, too?" Fury hissed.

 

"OW, what? OW!  No.  OW, dammit!" came Howard's response.

 

One by one, he heard hurried footsteps leaving the patio.  Peggy was out for the count, proving to be outmatched by both Bucky and Natasha.  Howard had finally stopped calling out annoying 'Ow's.  And Bruce was lying low, having probably scrambled at the first sign of violence.

 

Which was a very good idea on his part.

 

The fire light went out as Steve kicked at it, upending the coals onto the ground before picking up the circular, concave piece of metal and flinging it against the far light post that was still generating a little visibility as the young people scattered.  He caught it on the rebound, and even amidst the chaos, Fury had a moment of respect for the resourcefulness.

 

Fury reached out and grabbed in the dark, gripping on to Darcy Lewis with a strength that made her leave out a squawk of surprise.

 

"What did you do Lewis?"

 

"LET ME GO!" Darcy ordered.

 

"Your orders don't work on me. Just like your great-grandmother's didn't work on my great-grandfather.   We had an awful long time to protect ourselves from having to do your bidding," Fury told her.  He gave her a shake.  "What did you do?"

 

"Leave her alone!" Steve growled, giving Fury no other warning than that before hauling off and taking the still warm metal disc and slamming it against the side of the older man's head, sending him flying to the side.  Darcy stumbled at the force of being dropped so quickly and Steve was quick to scoop her up into a bridal carry.  "Where to, Sparky?"

 

' _The docks.  We're getting out of here_.' 

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


They all piled into the plane that had brought them to the island one by one.  Scott had run in with a few bags full of stuff, looking rather pleased with himself as he sat on the floor of the crowded little puddle jumper.  Tony gave him a roll of his eyes and said,

 

"Really, Lang?  I told you that you shouldn't be stealing from me or my dad."

 

"Didn't steal," Scott shrugged.   He opened one of the duffle bags and showed a bunch of clothing, first aid kits, and a lot of food.  "Cameron thought we should have escape bags ready.  He had a bad feeling.  I just remembered them."

 

"I always have a bad feeling," Cameron rolled his eyes.  

 

"And also, I stole your Dad's silver candlesticks," Scott held them up triumphantly.  "This is like three months rent for me."

 

'J _anie, start the plane!_ '

 

"What? Darcy, outta my brain!" Jane yelled, but found herself jumping to the controls anyway and feeling a pull in her gut and a warmth as without very much work aside from a strong desire for the plane to start, she somehow brought the plane roaring to life.  "Okay."

 

"Brilliant!" Thor enthused from his place right next to Jane.  

 

"Where are they?" Helen worried at the plane's entrance.  

 

' _Go, go, go!_ "

 

"Okay, fine, yes, stop screaming in my brain!" Jane yelled.

 

"Wait, Jane, they're not here!" Sam insisted, knowing that their mad party of escapees were four people short.  

 

Very, very suddenly, Natasha and Bucky rounded a corner and were barreling straight towards Helen as she fretted by the small doorway.  She dove out of the way as they climbed aboard, even as Jane got the plane moving slowly for takeoff.

 

"But Darcy and Steve!" Sam disputed again.

 

_'Buck, I'm gonna toss her, be ready to catch!'_

 

Bucky nodded as somehow Steve's voice came blaring in his head and he leaned out the still open door to the plane as Jane slowly made her way from the place it had been docked.  He held out his arms, and sure enough, Steve came zooming around the same corner he and Natasha had, with Darcy held in his strong and capable arms.   She suddenly put her hands over her eyes and curled up into a ball in Steve's embrace, moments before he threw her.

 

_Bodily_ threw her as if she were an over sized basketball, passing her at least twenty feet right into Bucky's outstretched arms.  Bucky turned and handed off Darcy to whoever was closest before putting half of his body out of the plane now, as Jane had started to lift off the water.  Steve was running full speed then, and took one final step off of the sandy wooden docks, leaping into the air and gripping onto Bucky's outstretched hands.

 

Jane took off in earnest now, and Thor was beaming at her as she didn't use the controls very much at all, pushing them fast and far away from the island even as Steve partially dangled out of the open door.  Finally Bucky managed to pull the very heavy Steve up and in and the young people looked around at each other in a panic.

 

"Now what?" Scott asked, looking down at Darcy, who Bucky had thrown into his arms.  She seemed tired, as if she could barely stand at that point.

 

Steve's brow wrinkled into angry lines as he glared at Scott's arms around Darcy's shoulders as she tried to catch her breath.  She hadn't noticed the embrace, but Scott, the little fucker, definitely did and threw Steve a smarmy little wink.  

 

"Are you alright?" Helen stepped forward and looked at Steve, who had burn marks on his hands from where he had handled the fire pit metal.  She gasped and reached for his hands, looking down at them in interest as the flesh that had been angry and red and burnt seemed to mend before her eyes. "Holy shit, dude."

 

"Yeah," Steve nodded.  "It's a thing that happens now."

 

Bucky and Natasha shared a small look.  

 

"Where are we going?  I kind of need direction, or else we're just going to kind of fly in circles, then crash and burn when we run out of fuel," Jane reminded them.

 

"No we won't," Darcy reassured her.  

 

"We need somewhere safe, that isn't tied to Fury, or Stark's dad or Ms. Carter," Steve announced.  "Anyone have a space like that?"

 

"My dad is everywhere, you should know this by now Rogers," Stark rolled his eyes.  "And I'm beginning to think Fury is everywhere too."

 

"I'd say Uncle Phil, but he's tight with Fury," Clint shrugged.

 

"We're screwed," Sam sighed.

 

"You totally don't want to go to my space," Scott shook his head.  "I mean, technically I'm staying in a garage apartment above my friend Kurt's mom's place.  With Kurt.  And Luis.  And Dave.  It smells like goulash every other day and bleach on the other days."

  
  


"Let us visit my parents!" Thor suggested helpfully.  "I should be happy to introduce you all to my friends and family.  And perhaps, even to my brother Loki."

 

"I don't think we're going to have enough fuel to get us to another hemisphere," Jane fretted.

 

Darcy took a step forward, but hesitated, looking around at her other friends in hesitation.  Scott squeezed his arms back around her shoulders and gave her a charming little smile.

 

"You're good, kid.  Tell us what you want to do," Scott promised, before throwing another wicked look to a simmering Steve's way.

 

Darcy focused on Steve, her gaze drifting from that space on his chest where his eyes would have normally been down to his hands.  Where Helen was still holding them, staring down at them in wonder.  She took a deep even breath before throwing a grateful smile Scott's way and walking towards Jane in the cockpit.  She closed her eyes before putting both hands on Jane's shoulders.

 

"Woah," Jane breathed as she felt the tugging warmth in her gut.  The dark little space in the cockpit lit up with blue not dissimilar to the stuff that had been retrieved from the cave and shot into Steve.  And Jane suddenly knew what she had to do.

 

A shimmering prism of rainbow light encapsulated the small plane and everyone's vision was suddenly blotted out into blinding white.  When they blinked their eyes open, the plane was landed in water again and was no longer moving save for a gentle sway from the lapping water.  But this time, cold was seeping in around them and when sight finally returned to each and every one of them, they were greeted with the view of snow capped mountains and a lovely little village that looked like it was from another place and time.

 

"My home!" Thor boomed happily.  He bent over and placed a kiss on a sweaty and disoriented Jane.  "I should have known my lady would know where to go without guidance."

 

"Sparky?" Steve asked, as Darcy finally let her hands off of Jane.  She swayed on her feet and looked back to Steve.  

 

Her mouth opened to say something but no sound came out as she very quickly crumpled to the ground like a lifeless rag doll.  Steve rushed for her, but Scott and Thor were closer, and it was at least Thor that lifted her, his face full of genuine concern.

 

"To the palace, she needs medical attention."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My parents have just informed me that I get to choose dinner since I don't have very many left at home before shipping off to school.
> 
> SO. the power surge I got from this is intense. SHOULD I EAT ICE CREAM FOR DINNER? Probably should.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	15. A Visit from the Exposition Fairy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head, the exposition fairy has a magic wand and a sparkly periwinkle tutu

 

**Chapter 15: A Visit from the Exposition Fairy**

  
  


* * *

 

"Of course.  I will retain them here for as long as I can.  Don't be ridiculous, Fury.  I will succeed where you have failed."

 

Frigga rolled her eyes at her husband's ridiculous posturing over the phone.  She didn't care much about subterfuge and heretofore unfulfilled prophecies.  What she cared about was the safety and happiness of her children.  It pained her to have Thor so far from her, but she knew he flourished with his new friends in his new home.  And Loki...

 

"No need for your concern, Fury.  Loki has his own studies to worry about at his university.  There shall be no exciting previews."

 

Frigga sighed again as an assistant brought in a note for her.  She grinned in anticipation.  Thor and his friends were on their way and would arrive in moments, presumably.  Frigga reached out across the desk she had been seated next to her husband at and poked at his bicep.  He gave her small smile and then looked to the telephone with a look of exasperation.

 

"Absolutely not, stay where you are.  You and yours are fortunate enough not to have mucked it all up already.  I will keep the children safe until the next step.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I would hope to not let them know you and I are acquainted."

 

Odin hung up the phone in annoyance and looked to Frigga with true exasperation.  It melted into a look of thankfulness as she pet at his arm to ease some of the tension.

 

"We should have brought the children here long ago.  I never trusted Fury."

 

"No one does, it is what makes him so singularly good at his job," Frigga reminded him.  "And it would have been difficult to move all the children here, and you know it.  Besides, I quite like the young man Thor has become in these few short months.  He has taken to American culture splendidly and socializing with people who don't view him as royalty."

 

"Hmpph," Odin snorted.  He was incredibly happy and lucky to have Frigga as his better half.  She thought about all of these details for their boys that he simply didn't care to.  But it was important nonetheless and he was happy to have her for it.

 

"Sir, your son," an attendant announced before opening the doors to the large and impressive study that Frigga and Odin spent most of their afternoons in together.

 

"Father, Mother!  I've come for a visit!" Thor announced happily, walking into the room and being trailed by a group of young people who looked like they would quite like a nap, a bath and a hot meal.

 

"Oh you poor dears, what's become of you!" Frigga was on her feet in a second and rushing towards them.  She went to Darcy first, and Steve tried to maneuver her in his arms in such a way that she'd be protected, but Frigga somehow waved off his instincts and had two hands on Darcy's shoulders, looking down at the sleeping girl in obvious concern.  She clucked her tongue and shook her head before her eyes searched out the crowd of weary faces and found a lovely pair of brown eyes that Thor had described in detail in his first letter he had sent home.  "Jane...you look very tired!  Come along, children, we will get you settled and comfortable.  Please bring little Darcy with me young man, I will tend to her."

 

Thor smiled at his mother with obvious gratefulness before taking a relieved breath.  He turned to his father as the rest of his friends filed out of the room slowly.

 

"It is good to be home, father."

 

* * *

 

  
  


"Will she be alright?" Steve fretted as Frigga and a few attendants worked over Darcy.  Steve had absolutely refused to leave, but he had averted his eyes when Darcy was cut out of her clothes and placed in a warm and soft looking nightgown.  "Mrs. Odinson, please...is she okay?"

  
  


"She is exhausted," Frigga hesitated in her response.  She didn't know what was wrong with Darcy.  Fury had warned them that what was happening was unprecedented.  They had been prepared for a normal transition.  Darcy had always been the expected wild card, as it was unclear if she would actual transition.  But it appears to have happened early, and whatever the group was doing, it was taking its toll on the poor girl.  "If I could know what happened, Steven, I could help more."

 

"I---she---I don't know?" Steve swallowed.  Since Darcy had gone down, he hadn't heard her voice in his head once.  It was unnerving.  Like a connection he had always wanted and now sorely needed had been severed and now there wasn't enough power to keep him operating like normal.

 

Bucky and Natasha slowly shuffled into the room, fresh and changed.  Natasha looked downright worried, which was unusual to say the least.  Bucky however, looked devastated.  He was pale white and sweaty, his hands exhibiting a definite tremor.  Natasha had his hand held in hers, her thumb running soothing circles along his skin.  

 

"Jane's not doing so hot," Bucky managed to get out.  

 

"What do you mean?" Steve furrowed his brow.

 

"She uh, she got sick?" Bucky shrugged, feeling a little helpless and definitely a little sick himself. "Threw up the food they brought us.  Thor is bringing her up now."

 

"How are the two of you feeling?" Frigga wondered.  

 

"Lost," Bucky said easily.

 

"She's holding you together," Frigga whispered, looking back to Darcy in wonder.  "What happened with the Titan's serum, children?"

 

"I took it," Steve shrugged.  "Like Howard and Peggy told me to and then I changed."

 

"Is that all?" Frigga looked directly at Natasha.

 

"How do we know we can trust you?" Natasha asked back, her voice a cold, callous thing.  She had been watching Frigga with distrustful eyes since she had walked in.

 

"You of all people should know," Frigga said knowingly.

 

"I can't...I can't see it right now," Natasha admitted.  "Darcy's not awake.  I don't feel it.  I can't tell if you're telling the truth or not."

 

"Oh," Frigga nodded.  

 

"We had a little of the serum," Bucky whispered, his voice a dangerously small thing.

 

"Bucky?" Steve shook his head.  "Why didn't you tell me?"

 

"Nat and I inhaled it.  Darcy got a little in her arm...we were scared it was gonna turn us into monsters," Bucky admitted.  "They said if you weren't worthy it'd turn you into a monster."

 

"I have to go and consult my research," Frigga nodded, rising and going to leave the room quickly.  She was greeted by Thor, who was holding Jane to his chest like a baby.  "Bring a bed in and place it right next to Darcy's.  None of you should leave her, stay close."

 

"Yeah, okay, we can do that," Steve nodded.  He and Bucky went to the next door bedroom and Steve watched Bucky carefully as they both effortlessly lifted the bed and moved it.  "You feeling strong, jerk?"

 

"Never wanted to be this strong, punk," Bucky shrugged.  

  
  


"It'll be alright," Steve promised, trying to believe it himself.  He still felt lost with Darcy being unconscious.

 

When they returned to the room, the rest of their friends had crammed in.  Sam and Helen had brought in blankets and pillows and once the bed was settled next to Darcy's, and Jane was laid down, the rest of them got as comfortable as they could.  Clint and Scott had brought up platters of food and pitchers of drinks and Steve noticed that Bucky and Natasha refused to touch anything.

 

"I wish we knew what was happening," Tony huffed out.  He looked to Thor and demanded, "I'm saying with all the respect in the world for you big guy, and knowing that my own father is shady as shit.  Can we trust your parents?"

 

"You can trust my mother with everything," Thor promised.  He was as forthright as he could be when he revealed, "But I would not trust my father.  Nor my brother."

 

"Your brother isn't here though," Clint said around a mouthful of some kind of pastry.  "Cause I saw your pictures of your family from before.  He's got a sneaky face.  Gives me the heebies."

 

"What about the jeebies?" Sam wondered.

 

"That's all you, bud," Clint gave him a silly look and earned a middle finger in response.

 

"THOR!" a loud booming voice echoed throughout the hallways.  

 

Steve and Bucky, who had been hovering at Darcy's bedside immediately moved to step in front of it, ready and willing to protect her and the prone Jane from whoever had made that noise that was loud enough to rattle the windows.

 

"Be at ease, friends," Thor smiled.  "It is my own dear friends from childhood.  Darcy and Jane shall be safe."

 

Steve didn't quite believe him as the racket increased as Thor's 'friends' came closer down to the room.  Suddenly the door burst open, clipping Scott in the back, and a very tall, very large, very hairy and bearded young man came through the door with his arms open wide.  

 

"Volstagg!" Thor cheered.  "Where are your shadows?"

 

"Madam Frigga sent Hogan and Fandral with Sif to obtain some books for her out of the city libraries," Volstagg admitted, his voice loud and booming.  "As you know, I have been banned from all libraries because of excessive noise."

 

"No...really?" Tony rolled his eyes.  

 

"Indeed!" Volstagg insisted brightly, not quite catching on to the sarcasm.  "Libraries are boring anyway, I prefer when we have more active tasks, like when Thor's father sends us out to hunt for the fall festival.  This is a boon, friends!  You are in time to help us in a few days.  We shall serve a bounty!"

 

"Uhm," Clint blinked at him.  "You guys got bows and arrows?"

 

"Absolutely!" Volstagg grinned.  Loudly grinned, if that were possible.

 

"Cool," Clint nodded.

 

"My mother seeks out more knowledge to help my Jane and Steven's Darcy?" Thor wondered.

 

"Yes, she does," Volstagg nodded.  "She sent me up in the meantime to answer any questions you might have."

 

"Yes, your father was the historian," Thor nodded.  "You know all the old stories."

 

"Indeed, better than I know nearly anything," Volstagg promised.  He tried to peer around the formidable shoulders of Steve and Bucky.  "Which is your Lady, Thor?"

 

"This is Jane, she is ill," Thor said worriedly.  "Although her color is returned now that Darcy is near."

 

"Ah, then this is Darcy.  The long lost Princess of Vanaheim?"

 

"The long lost princess of what now?" Sam held up his hand like he was asking a question.

 

"Surely you told them?" Volstagg wondered.  "You had me send pictures of the portraits as proof."

 

"I---never had the chance," Thor hedged.  He was an oddity among his classmates, to be sure.  He didn't feel the need to be telling them crazy folk lore from his native land.  Especially when one of the tales involved Darcy, or someone very much looking like Darcy.  "Please, feel free to tell your tale, Volstagg."

 

"Excellent!" Volstagg looked even happier than he had before, his rosy cheeks turning near flame red in his excitement.  "Once upon a time..."

 

* * *

 

 

_ In the year of our lord and protectors the Odinson's 1343, days before the Second Yingley Games on record, the honored house of Martin and the honored house of Odinson met to celebrate a joyous occasion, the marriage of the two houses.  Lady Martin had married Prince Olaf and was now Princess Lisla Odinson to Asgard, and the union was the culmination of centuries of goodwill and friendship between the kingdoms. _

 

_ The quest for the Titan's serum of the true and righteous was underway, and Princess Lisla would have been eligible to reach for it and touch it, and yet, her wedding night had just passed and she was no longer pure enough to hold on to it.  Not a person could obtain the chalice for the Titan's serum. _

 

_ The winter solstice fast approached and on that night when the powers were to come to fruition, Prince Olaf lifted the mighty hammer of the Odinsons, and Princess Lisla found her true calling with the powers of her mind.  But there was a third gift that night. _

 

_ The princess was carrying a babe, the first babe to ever be carried under the change.   _

 

_ It was clear that the babe had been gifted something, because at the second challenge of the games, the child's will was clear and power was apparent, even without being birthed into the world. _

 

_ Alas, poor Prince Olaf was trampled to death by wild beasts of Africa, controlled by an opponent on the Dark team.  And Princess Lisla grew distraught, her powers growing uncontrollable. _

 

_ She refused to stay in Asgard, and would not be able to return to her own lands again.  She feared for her babe's life, knowing it was forfeit before it began, it would be lost to those in control of the games.  So her friends came to her aid, hiding her and the babe in far off parts unknown.  The power was passed from generation to generation, diluted with time, but still there, even before birth.  The power to control another's mind.  To have an unwilling person do their bidding. _

  
  


_ Lisla's descendants were hidden in plain sight, but always presented themselves for the choosing at the games.  They were never chosen though, believed to be too powerful already. _

 

* * *

 

 

Volstagg nodded and shivered at the same time.  "Truly, having one's will taken from them is one of the greatest forms of torture ever devised."

 

"What's that have to do with Darcy?" Steve demanded.

 

"She looks exactly like Princess Lisla," Thor sighed.  "She is a carbon copy, exactly replicated in her face.  And I feel she is kindred to me.  Like a sister."

 

"Or a cousin about a million times removed," Helen shrugged.

 

"Are you saying Darcy has the power to control minds?" Tony wondered.

 

Every one of Darcy's friends opened their mouths to dispute, but immediately stopped themselves, thinking of more than a few times when she had somehow talked herself out of a bad situation.  She was an expert wheedler and Steve and Bucky had always figured it was because she was so dear to them that they couldn't say no.  When Darcy was particularly upset, everyone in the room knew that they would do absolutely anything she asked.

 

"Is that how she got me to upgrade her closet to be like the one from Clueless?" Tony tapped his chin thoughtfully.  "Seemed to be too pedestrian an accomplishment for me at the time, but I did it anyway.  I thought it was just to get a better look at her bras at the time."

 

"Tony," Steve said sternly.

 

"OH, okay, so we're back to this now, Captain Steve?" Tony rolled his eyes.  "Darcy forgive you for the virginity that wasn't but really WAS?"

 

Everyone fell silent.  Except for Volstagg, who got very, very excited as he pointed to Steve.

 

"He was different!" Volstagg squealed.

 

"He used to be smaller," Bucky managed to huff out, Volstagg's exuberant storytelling picking up his spirits a little.  He liked to imagine that Darcy was secretly descended from a princess.

 

"By the moon and the stars, finally someone has managed to be worthy of the Titan's Serum," Volstagg shook his head in disbelief.  "A worthy virgin, to be sure."

 

"I'm not---I wasn't," Steve stammered, looking to Helen with guilt.

 

"If you were not a virgin when you touched the serum, you would probably not be living," Volstagg insisted.

 

"I---"

 

"He's a virgin, we lied," Helen blurted.

 

"Helen, you don't have to say anything," Steve said quietly.

 

"No, Steve, I do.  These are our friends.  I don't want to lie anymore," Helen sighed.  "Steve was covering for me."

 

"Explain," Sam said softly, throwing an apologetic look to Steve immediately.

 

"I was ashamed," Helen shrugged.  "Last year, when Sam and Bucky went to football camp...I--I was having a bad couple of days.  Felt---jealous and angry and just...unwanted."

 

Sam looked down at his hands guiltily.  He and Helen had been playing a silly dance the last two years once puberty had finally gotten done with them both.  She had devoted herself to her studies and turned him down gently, telling him that now wasn't the time for serious relationships.  He had immediately gone on to try to score with a bevy of beauties, all the while thinking Helen would be there when he was done.  He remembered two days before football camp.  He'd hooked up with a cheerleader from a neighboring school, and he hadn't been discreet about it at all.  It might even seem like he had been rubbing it in Helen's face.  Petulantly.

 

"I had a---a _thing_ with someone I shouldn't have," Helen said quietly.  "It was my choice and my decision, but I didn't want anyone to know.  And Steve was there when I was feeling angry and sad.  And he figured out why."

 

"Who was it?" Sam asked angrily.  "Did they hurt you?"

  
  


"No," Helen insisted.  She was bright red in the face and clearly a little disgusted with herself.  "It was Brock Rumlow.  And it was totally consensual at the time, but the next day I felt like I was just ashamed.  And then he'd leer at me or say something disgusting and I felt even worse.  And Jane and Darcy were concerned at the time.  About my behavior.  And I don't know, it just snowballed and before I knew it Steve had said he'd be a part of the lie, just in case Brock ever told anyone, would swear on a stack of bibles that it had been him and not Brock."

 

"Stupid, selfless idiot," Bucky huffed out in a whisper.  

 

"Helen, we would have never condemned you for it," Natasha promised her.

 

"I know that now, but, my parents found out that I'd been sexually active because I took a pregnancy test, and I couldn't tell them that I'd willingly slept with the man who would make fun of my dad's accent or had wallpapered our garage in Chinese Take out menus," Helen fretted.  "It was negative but they wanted to know who it was, and Steve---Steve told them it was him."

 

"Jesus," Sam shook his head.  "You gotta tell Darcy the truth."

 

"I will, I promise I will," Helen nodded.

 

"Are you alright?" Sam asked softly, rising from his place on the floor with a clump of pillows and blankets.  He put two large hands on Helen's shoulders and looked down at her with worry.  

 

"I'm fine," Helen gave him a small smile, Sam hauled her down to the floor, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  

  
  


"What troubles the ladies so?" Volstagg wondered, looking at the convalescing Jane and Darcy.

 

"I think Darcy tapped into her---into her powers," Steve admitted.  "She got a little bit of the serum, and then she was able to get into my mind and talk to me.  And then she let me talk back to her with my mind. And then she said to talk to Bucky through her mind.  Like she was this amazing human walkie talkie or something.  She was flagging though."

 

"She was pushing too hard," Natasha nodded.  "She got both Barnes and I to do things that we probably shouldn't be able to do yet.  Not until the solstice.  And then Jane---"

 

"Jane got a boost too," Tony nodded.  "Because no offense, if instantaneous travel through portals was possible, I'm pretty sure I might have come up with it by now.  We went, what, ten thousand miles in ten seconds?"

 

"The ability to transport a whole plane so quickly," Volstagg shook his head in wonder.  "How far the powers have come to sit in the modern world."

 

"The powers...so, they're not unique?" Bucky asked.  "They've been done before."

 

"The variations are the same, it's true," Volstagg nodded.  "But spear throwing thousands of years ago has evolved with time.  Now, it may be that one of you is gifted with a different weapon."

 

"Dibs on weapons!" Clint thrust his hand into the air anxiously.  "Dibs on weapons!"

 

"Uh, if anyone is getting weapons, it's Barnes," Tony disputed.  "He's all...wicked good at them already."

 

"Uhm, her name is Natasha, get it right," Helen smirked.  

 

"You all three may excel at them," Volstagg nodded.  "The group is certainly larger than the first group at the games.  Four people stood against the dangerous tests and challenges at the first Games."

 

"I want to know what I get to do," Sam admitted. "Jane can beam us up Scottie, but I want something even cooler."

 

"WEAPONS," Clint repeated.  "I want to be the weapons master!"

 

"I always wanted to like have really good hair," Cameron admitted, mostly to himself, but loud enough for all to hear.  They all looked at him and he shrugged, "Or you know, to punch things hard. Yeah!"

  
  


"I want to know what's wrong with Darcy," Steve interrupted any more chatter.  He looked at Volstagg and asked earnestly, "Is there anything in the stories like this?  What can be done to make her better?"

 

"That is why Madame Frigga is waiting for the histories to be delivered to her," Volstagg admitted.  

 

"Steven, she is in good hands," Thor promised.  "My mother trained as a healer before assuming her duties as the wife of the ruler of Asgard.  She has no equal in treating the sick."

 

"I just...I'm so worried," Steve admitted, finally moving from his protective stance in front of Darcy's bed and going around to sit on the edge of it.  He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek with the lightest of touches.  

 

A burst of blue light lit up the room and everyone blinked in earnest against it.  Darcy made a soft moaning noise, which was far more noise than she had made since she passed out.  Steve felt his first rush of calm since Darcy had passed out, and realized it was because her energy or consciousness or something had jolted back with the touch.   Steve looked to his friends, seemingly for approval and Helen quickly hopped up to her feet.  She rushed to the bed and pushed at Steve to lay in it, then arranged his arms around Darcy.  They waited in silence for a few minutes, and sure enough, two minutes later, there was another flash of blue light emanating from where Steve and Darcy's skin touched.

 

"S'okay," Darcy mumbled before falling asleep again.

 

Bucky looked to Steve, and saw that he looked a little less shiny and strong and new than he had right after the transformation.

 

"You all right, punk?" 

 

"Just feel a little sleepy," Steve admitted.

 

"Energy transference," Jane blinked her eyes open.  She winced at the sick feeling she had.  She looked to Thor beseechingly and said, "Smash the beds together, please?"

 

"Oh, yes, that'd work," Helen nodded, understanding immediately.  Her mind seemed to be going a million miles a minute.  "Anyone who Darcy---who she helped.  Pushed.  Gave strength to."

 

"Jump started?" Natasha offered.

 

"Sparkplug," Steve chuckled as he pulled her close.  His head rested against hers and his lips mumbled into her hair, "Sparky."

 

"Skin to skin, Steve," Helen advised.

 

Bucky helped him to remove his shirt, as Steve was certainly a little sluggish.  Helen then did the same for Bucky before shoving him in the bed, then going for Natasha.

 

"Skin to skin," Helen repeated, "everyone into the bed until the strength is more evenly distributed."

 

"I want naked cuddles," Clint pouted.  "No fair.  I want to cuddle shirtless in _kind of_ platonic pile."

 

"That makes sense, actually," Helen nodded, before whipping off her shirt.  Sam made a whimper of a sound.  "Everyone on the beds.  Hey you, big dude."

 

"I am Volstagg, son of---"

 

"Sure, sure, go and get another bed.  We're going to make a human charging dock here," Helen nodded. 

 

Natasha got Darcy's shirt off and put her back in Steve's arm right before another burst of blue light lit up the room and Steve effectively passed out into a gentle, smiling sleep as he cuddled Darcy close.

 

"Who could've even predicted this would be our lives, dude?" Sam said offhandedly to Cameron.

 

"Uhm, I did.  Like two days into this thing.  I said, _this is going to end up in a half naked cuddle orgy_ ," Cameron shrugged.  "And you said I wish, and Natasha said, shut up Wilson, Cameron's right."

 

"Oh.  Well, okay," Sam shrugged before bouncing on his toes, getting ready to jump into the pile.  "You can tell the half naked cuddle orgy future, good for you.  Now strip and get in there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOLSTAAG. Exposition fairy!!! SEMI-NAKED CUDDLE PILE. 
> 
> What have I done here?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	16. Monorail Through Time and Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More bits to the past, in a different way than Volstagg the exposition fairy (Although I love him to bits, don't get me wrong).

 

**Chapter 16:  Monorail Through Time and Space**

* * *

  
  


She had never felt warmer and more safe in any of her lifetimes.  

 

There was a surety there wrapped up in that strong armed embrace.  She heard the faint and hazy words of the story teller, and smiled.  So many things had been lost over the years in books and words and paintings.  The best and most truthful way to tell a story was through the words of the old and weathered to the young and energetic.  So many truths could be waved off as being exaggerations then.  Secrets could be kept.

 

She blinked her eyes open and sighed at the view of a lovely jaw and the outline of a perfect nose.  In this he would probably always be the same.  No matter how many times they had to come back and do it all over again, he would always be the same.  But this time...she moved ever so slightly in his arms.  This time, he had the outsides to match the insides.

 

They'd been doing this for centuries, but it still wasn’t that very many times.  Only when the moon was right could they come back to Earth and try their hand at besting the Titans again.  She was always the thinker.  Sometimes he was the hammer bearer.  Other times he was on the outside struggling to prove himself to be worthy of being chosen.  And finally, everything had lined up and he was the worthy one.  She lifted a careful hand and let her finger draw along the slope of his nose.  He smiled in his slumber and she couldn't help but feel the warmth in her heart increase exponentially.

 

As the girl, Darcy Lewis, further emerged into consciousness, she could feel herself slipping back and she frowned in disappointment.  It was difficult to sit back and watch events unfold when she had so much wisdom, so many ways to help them all get through the many difficult trials and tribulations that lay ahead.  

 

But it wasn't time yet.  She and Darcy weren't whole yet, but they were getting so close.  She took in a deep breath, taking energy and strength from the bonds that lay around her.  

 

Soon it would be alright.  

 

Soon they'd be a force to be reckoned with.  

 

Soon they'd end the Titan's reign.  

 

She looked around her and saw all of them piling close and she reached out a hand and smiled as big brown eyes blinked open.

 

"Where in the how now?" Cameron rasped out.  The room was bright white.  So bright that he could barely blink his eyes open against the harshness of it.

 

"Good morning soothsayer," she smiled softly at him.

 

"Darcy?" Cameron blinked at her rapidly.  "What's going on?  Are you alright?"

 

"I'm getting there," the girl promised.  "Soon we'll be ready."

 

"Your fingers are blue," Cameron observed.  He blinked at her some more and shook his head to try and get the image to leave his mind. 

 

Blue light emanating from Darcy's skin as she smiled at him in a calm and creepy way that normal Darcy would never have done.  She reached out for him, the blue light even brighter than the whiteness that surrounded the little pile of bodies that they were in.  The room from Thor's palatial estate was gone.  In its place was just endless, vast whiteness beyond the safety of the pile.  Whiteness and that brilliant blue glowing on Darcy's fingertips.  

 

"Can I borrow you?" Darcy wondered.  "Not for the future, you already have that.  But to show them the past?"

 

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh," Cameron said slowly.  "Seriously, what's going on?  You're being...weird.  You're not Darcy, are you?"

 

"Not yet," the girl answered truthfully.  "But eventually I'll melt right in.  I promise."

 

"I don't want you to change Darcy," Cameron shook his head.  He gestured to the man who currently was wrapped around her body and said, "I'm pretty sure Steve would have something to say about that too.  And it would probably be,  _ back demon!  Back! _ "

 

"I'm not a demon," Darcy smirked at him, looking much more normal as the fade began.  "More like an echo.  An imprint of memories  that came before."

 

"Before's not my specialty," Cameron admitted.  "I like looking ahead."

 

"You're very good at it.  It’s about time we got something new to fight with," Darcy nodded.  "But just for now, just this once, let's look at what happened.  It'll answer a few burning questions."

 

"Fine, fine, give a friendly blue touch," Cameron shrugged.  "But if you wear yourself out again, under no circumstances are you allowed to tell Steve that it was cause you gave me the blue touch.  I prefer to be bruise free, you know."

 

"I know," Darcy nodded.  "It's good then that you can see the punches coming.  Sort of."

 

"Yeah.  Sort of.  Okay, c'mon.  Get it over with."

 

Darcy let a finger tap against Cameron's temple and he shivered at the warmth tugging in his gut.   He blew out a long, powerful breath before shaking his head.

 

"Seriously.  My life used to be so normal, I swear.  Why couldn't I just be able to like, see the lottery numbers or something?"

  
  


* * *

 

The dream began immediately.  It seemed like the least offensive way to do things.  It felt like one of those amusement park rides that seems super lame, but actually winds up being kind of exciting.  The kind where you're strapped into a little car and ride through the scene on a track.  Feeling the wind against her cheek.  The sprinkle of rain on your cheeks.  The rumble of the earth and gravel beneath you.  

 

Except this one was the baking sun, the swamp like humidity and the absolutely terrifying sound of some kind of awful beast making a large and scary sound that rattled your bones.  

 

"Duuuuuuude," Clint muttered as all of them collectively came into conscious thought.  "Who is driving this crazy ride from the abandoned Disney bat-shit time park?  Because they should steer us away from the thing making the  _ dinosaur is gonna eat you now _ noise."

 

"Stuff it Barton," Bucky advised.  "Pay attention, this seems important."

 

Surround sound, digital projection had nothing on what they were seeing.  They were safe and non-participants but they could see every movement of the action as five people, if you could call them that, cave sort of people might have been a more accurate description. They were human-ish, but had a lot more body hair than was socially acceptable...ever.  They weren't wearing literal loincloths, but whenever the focus was on nether regions, it seemed to blur.

 

"HEY!  Who is responsible for the modesty blur?" Tony demanded.

 

"Seriously, Stark, you don't need to see prehistoric giblets," Cameron sighed.

 

"FOR SCIENCE!" Tony insisted.

 

Their cozy little virtual reality car rattled with the sound of a roar, and a beast that was other wordly sprung into view.  It was like a hairy dinosaur, with four solid legs on the ground.  And slime.  There was slime.

 

"Ah ha, a bilgesnipe!  Volstagg and Hogan will be so sad to have missed seeing one," Thor shook his head.  "They are thought to be mythical.  But here we have the proof."

 

"In a shared dreamworld where we're watching a really good virtual reality movie," Sam said dryly.

 

"Are we sharing the dream?" Tony wondered.

 

"Dunno.  When we wake up say turtle sparkle droppings, and then we'll know we shared it," Sam suggested.

 

"Guys," Steve said softly.  "Pay attention.  This is important."

 

One of the neanderthals was running in front of the beast and just as they were about to be skewered with the horns, a rush of roaring wind hit and they were floating in the air, away from harm, confusing the beast and allowing for another of the pre-humans to rush at the beast, lowering a shoulder and checking him in his side, making it fall to it's side.

 

"Holy shit," Helen breathed out.  "That's a very strong dude.  Or is it a lady?  I can't tell."

 

"I'm not removing the blurs!" Cameron said decidedly.

 

"So...movement," Jane murmured.  "That's me.  Movement."

 

"So far, it's you," Darcy chimed in.  "You won't be alone.  On our team and beyond."

 

"Strength," Bucky put in.

 

"That's a pretty common one," Darcy confirmed.

 

The strong person knocked into the beast again, and it rolled towards a bush.  It must have set off a line or trap rope because suddenly cracking branches could be heard and about fifteen spears came towards the prone beast.

 

"Weapons, weapons, that's gonna be me!" Clint clapped happily.

 

"Cleverness," Darcy corrected him.

 

"I got that in the bag," Tony's smirk was audible, even if they couldn't see it in their safe little cocoon.

 

"A lot of us will have it," Natasha promised.  "You can splinter cleverness into many different avenues."

 

A bolt of lightning came down from the sky out of nowhere just as the spears hit the beast.  A lot of them glanced off of the thick, slimy hide, but some of them did connect, just barely enough to be an annoyance to the already pissed off bilgesnipe.  The lightning connected with the thrashing, but mostly immobile thing.  

 

"Lightning," Thor murmured majestically.  "My family's strength and power."

 

"The elements," Darcy confirmed.  "Lightning is only one element."

 

"That's four," Natasha counted.  "One more.  The most important one, right?"

 

"Uhm, one of them can control lightning.  I don't think there is much more important than that," Tony scoffed.

 

The view focused quickly on one pre-historic person, sitting up and out of the way in a tree.  Their eyes were closed, they were focusing hard, as if playing a game of chess in their mind.  

 

"See, that's lame," Tony laughed.

 

The person's eyes flew open, and unlike the muddled brown color of all the other prehistoric warriors, their eyes were a bright, unearthly blue.  The same color of the serum, actually.  Glowing and blue and beautiful.  

 

Beams of the blue light emanated from the eyes and were just barely able to be seen as they flew through the air and connected with the other four warriors.  It was constantly moving back and forth and here and there to each of them.  

 

"She controlling them?" Steve wondered.

 

"Not control," Darcy corrected.  "Suggestion.  Warnings.  Reassurance when needed."

 

"But she could control," Steve wagered.

 

"If she had to."

 

The bilgesnipe was defeated.  And the warriors let out a loud cry.  But the thinker in the trees had a worried look and made a sound of warning.  The surrounding trees were soon being forcibly cracked as something larger came through.  The bilgesnipe that had been defeated was obviously the runt of the litter, and now came dozens of others that were keen to stamp and skewer the creatures who had killed one of their own.

 

The four warriors didn't stand a chance.  

 

And the thinker watched in helpless horror as one by one her comrades were torn to shreds.  

 

"Damn yo, tag your angst!" Sam grumbled as they watched the thinker walk away eventually, lonely and distraught, through forests and mountains and deserts and frozen tundras in a flash of time to her audience.  

 

Eventually the thinker came to a stop and Darcy made a heavy sighing sound when everyone else saw what was bundled close to the thinker.  A tiny little thing.  Small and harmless with big blue eyes that seemed to glow with the power of the serum.

 

"How long have your ancestors been around Darcy?" Natasha asked knowingly.

 

"For a really long time, apparently," Darcy shrugged.

 

The scene changed, dissolving into scattered ribbons before the light of a fire took up the black space.  

 

"Elements," Thor whispered.

 

This was no pre-historic battle against beasts.  This was organized.  They were in an arena, a coliseum, and instead of battling the otherworldly, there were two teams battling each other.

 

They were dressed in bronze armor, and looked like they had stepped off the screen of a Spartan period piece as they fought viciously against one another.

 

A man with fire emanating from his fingertips let a column of it fly through the air, hitting a man who was suspended effortlessly in the sky.  A woman with incredible speed flew past a man who was deftly handling a spear against another who had a small pack of dogs at his command.  

  
  


"Movement...cleverness...where is she?" Steve murmured, his voice low and dulcet in Darcy's ears.  "There you are."

 

Hidden in the shadows, as she always seemed to be, guarded by two warriors who looked a little extra strong, the thinker, looking just enough like Darcy to be uncanny, was concentrating hard, blue eyes a glow as she watched the scene unfold.  It was two teams against each other, and they did all have some variation on a specific theme in regards to the five powers they had already established.  

 

_ Strength.  The Elements.  Movement.  Cleverness.  Mind Control _ .

 

This wasn't a battle to the death.  This was a showcase of talent.  A dozen people were battling it out on the coliseum floor, when suddenly something blue sparkled from the very center.  This generation's thinker stood up and darted for it.  The members of her team closed ranks and did their best to allow her to get to it, but a blast of fire took down the man who was controlling the animals and blasted onto the thinking girl.  

 

"No," Steve gasped.

 

One of her protectors fell to his knees by her and could do nothing as she writhed in burning pain.  When she choked out her last breath, the man who had fallen to his knees rose up, and though he didn't command the elements, he did have a very shiny hammer strapped to his back.  He pulled it out, and went on the attack, avenging the girl ten fold.  

 

"Dude.  People die?" Clint sighed.  

 

When the scene dissolved again, it was to another set of games, this one looking like the one Volstagg had spoken about, if the clothing was anything to go by.  This time there were three teams on the field.  

 

"Is it just me, or do those guys not look---kosher?" Sam asked shrewdly.

 

And half a dozen people on the field were dressed in tarnished bronze armor pieces, and were certainly wielding their powers with a certain...frenzied enthusiasm.  They weren't there to win.  

 

They were there to bring pain to others.  Happily.

 

"Woah, Darcy alert," Cameron breathed out.

  
  


"She's a princess," Bucky smiled.  

 

The Darcy on the field was dressed for battle. Leather and metal and armor.  But on top of her dark twining braids was a little diadem that glittered with silver and small diamonds.  She was a princess.  She stood directly behind someone who looked a lot like Thor, who was indeed wielding a hammer, the same hammer that had been in the last little flashback.  

 

"You got one of those, Big Swiss Cheese?" Tony wondered.

 

"We are Asgardian, not Swedish," Thor insisted, for what seemed like the thousandth time.  "And yes.  I do."

 

"Uhoh," Tony chuckled as the Darcy on the field kissed the Thor on the field.  "Someone hold down Captain Steve, he's gonna put Big Swiss in a headlock!"

 

"Tony, that's not them, that's their ancestors," Steve reminded him helpfully.

 

"Still.  Seriously strange," Jane sighed.

 

"I totally don't like him that way, Janie," Darcy promised.

  
  


"We are kin!" Thor announced happily.

 

One of the darkest of the dark team descended upon Princess Darcy and seemed intent on freezing her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.  A blue light emanated from her skin, and she placed a hand over a barely swelling abdomen.  The attacker stopped freezing her and instead focused on his own feet, slowly encasing himself in ice until he was completely frozen to death.

 

"Woaaaaah," Clint breathed.  "I'm glad that Darcy only ever used her inherited power to make me brush my teeth or put down the toilet seat.  Don't make me use my weaponry expertness against myself, Darce."

 

"I hope you have the ability to control donkeys," Bucky grumbled at Clint.

  
  


The scene flickered and grew weaker for a few short seconds.

 

"Tired, Sparky?" Steve wondered.  "We can stop.  You've given us a lot of good information."

 

"One more thing, Steven, just one more," Darcy whispered.

 

And the scene flittered away and suddenly they were in a wartorn shell of a city, somewhere European. Possibly even amidst the French Revolution.  The three teams were battling each other again, they wore sashes across their bodies to identify themselves.  There was one person running between buildings that didn't have a sash.

 

She looked a little like Darcy and it was clear she wasn't quite on a team.  Her eyes didn't glow blue like her ancient ancestors, but they were a bright blue and she was letting out panting breaths as she ran from something that was terrifying her.

  
  


The roar was familiar to them.  The lumbering green monster chasing after the Darcy lookalike was even more familiar to them.  

 

"Holy cow," Bucky muttered.

 

"The curse of the Titan's serum on the unworthy," Darcy revealed.  

 

The scene flickered.

 

"Okay, Sparky, that's enough, let's rest now," Steve encouraged.

 

"One more thing..."

 

The monster started to shrink after being hit over the top of the head with a large piece of stone, thrown by someone with ridiculous amounts of strength.  In its place was a human.  Small.  Frail.  And just a little bit familiar looking.

 

Darcy made a small whimpering noise.

 

“Enough, you’re done now,” Steve begged.  “Back to sleep, Sparky, please.”

 

“Okay...okay,” she whispered and the scene faded and the whiteness faded into comfortable inky black darkness.

 

“Hey---uh, guys?” Scott suddenly chimed in, and collectively, they realized that he had been there all along without drawing any attention to himself, even in the cuddle pile on the normal plane of existence.  “What power am I going to get?  Because like...I’m not in your school, but now I want one.  One of the good ones too, not the lame donkey control power.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm curious to what kinds of theories you have about this stuff. And also, I think you guys are totally awesome. Thank you for reading!


	17. That's What You Get for Waking Up in Asgard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Here we go with another layer of mystery. And Asgardians. Cause I love them.

**Chapter Seventeen: That’s What You Get For Waking Up in Asgard**

 

* * *

 

Everyone's eyes seemed to open collectively.

 

"TURTLE SPARKLE DROPPINGS!"

 

Sam, Clint, Tony and Jane shouted out.

  


"SPARKLE MONKEY DROPPINGS!" Scott shouted out half a second later.  He scrunched up his nose in annoyance.  "Shit, I meant turtle droppy sparkles. _Shit_.  You know what I meant."

 

Darcy let out a small little giggle and Steve ran a hand down her bare bicep gently.  She stiffened under his touch and looked to him cautiously.

 

"Alright there, Sparky?" he murmured.

 

"I feel better now," Darcy nodded.  "How long have we been asleep?"

 

"THREE DAYS!" Volstagg announced cheerily from his place on the other side of the room.  he was seated comfortably on a long, plush couch that must have been moved into the room for observation of the group.  He was joined by two other men, one tall and golden haired and pretty and one shorter and raven haired and still just as pretty.  And then there was the young woman walking through the door pushing a cart full of drinks and covered plates.  

 

"My friends!" Thor called out jovially.  "Introductions will have to be made later, however.  Please excuse us all for one moment, though."

 

"DIBS!" Clint shrieked out as he tried to rush off the bed and get to the bathroom first.

 

"HELL NO, BARTON, GET BACK HERE!" Bucky yelled and Natasha reached out a capable hand and gripped the back of Clint's shorts, keeping him in place even as he kept trying to quickly rush away.

 

"Thor, you've got to have an outhouse here for the man to void himself in.  I'd be willing to dig a hole if necessary, but I'm not letting three days worth of Barton build up hit the bathroom before all of us get a chance to use it!" Jane looked beseechingly at the young man who she sort of called her boyfriend and gave her big brown eyes a few coquettish blinks.  

 

"Clint, downstairs," Thor pointed.  "Volstagg will show you."

 

"You guys are rude about my bodily functions," Clint narrowed his eyes at all his friends playfully.  "I'll have you know they're totally normal.  Everybody Poops.  Some dude wrote a book about it."

 

"But you nuclear poop.  Maybe it's your power?" Scott offered.

 

"Fuck you, Lang, I don't understand what you're still doing here," Clint shook his head.

 

"Me neither," Scott shrugged.

 

One by one they eased themselves out of the megabed that had held them all for three days, feeling a little sleep sore, but overall, pretty great.  Darcy in particular felt completely refreshed, unlike the last conscious feeling she had had, which was one of sheer exhaustion and emptiness.  She was back to 100% physically, but emotionally she felt a little bit like a wreck.  She inch wormed her way out of the bed on her knees, following Steve, and when he turned to hold out a hand and give her a smile, he was barely pushed an inch to the right by one of the men who had been sitting with Volstagg.

 

"My Lady Darcy, I've heard much about you," the golden haired, handsome, goateed man held out a hand for her.  "I am one of Thor's oldest and closest friends, my name is Fandral.  Please, allow me to show you to your quarters so that you may freshen up."

 

Steve frowned at Fandral.  The Asgardian man didn't seem to fit the type of Asgardian Steve had known.  Thor was jovial and kind.  The heir to the Asgardian throne was smart about most things, but still had a sort of joyous innocence about him as he discovered different ways of doing things in America.  Volstagg had been a buoyant, friendly, irrepressible sort of fellow, sharing knowledge freely, like it was a pleasure to do so.  

 

This man.  Steve didn't like this man.

 

He didn't like how Darcy blushed a little pink and put her hand in Fandral's outstretched one.  And he certainly didn't like the way Fandral led her out of the room.  Away from Steve.

 

"You do not need to use the facilities?" the woman with the cart looked at him curiously.  "I find it hard to believe that the serum has changed that much about your insides."

 

"I'm---what?" Steve tore his eyes away from Darcy's retreating form.  

 

The dream had been nice.  It had felt warm and safe there.  And the surety of Darcy being his and him being Darcy's was in that dream world.  There were no real world insecurities.  Just the concrete knowledge that their hearts were made for each other and that they would love each other right into the next lifetime too.  

 

Outside of the dream, there were fancy goateed Asgardians pulling his girl away from him.  Being awake meant that there were old lies to dispel, and a confused girl to convince that she was the only one meant for him and he'd never of thought to want to touch another.

 

"You are a curious sort of man," the woman squinted slightly familiar blue eyes at him.  "I am Sif.  Cousin to Thor."

 

"Nice to meet you," Steve nodded absent-mindedly.  

 

"Is it true you used to be smaller?" Sif wondered, abandoning her cart full of food and beverage to walk to stand in front of Steve, looking up a small number of inches into his eyes and reaching out a hand to poke at his pectoral muscles.

 

"Yeah?" Steve nodded, unsure of himself.  Being poked at like a side of beef wasn't exactly helpful either.

 

"I should like to spar with you," Sif said thoughtfully.  "I'd like to see how this superior body works."

 

"I believe in America, it's customary to buy a man dinner first, Sif," Fandral said breezily, announcing he and Darcy's return in the doorway.

 

Steve looked to Darcy with a blush on his cheeks, and Sif's hands now estimating the size of his biceps by gripping and squeezing them curiously.  Steve was very much still shirtless and it looked incriminating.  It looked very incriminating.  Darcy's eyes were wide, but fierce and her mouth was slowly turning down into a pissed off little line.  

 

"I---" Steve opened his mouth to say something, but found his words had disappeared again.  Not for the first time, Steve felt the loss of that wonderful confidence they had shared in their dreams.  He felt like when they were sleeping, Darcy and he were so solid and sure, and the moment they woke up, he was looking at Fandral with suspicion and was certainly mucking something up while Sif continued to curiously pet at his bare skin.

 

"Steven, Darcy, come along!  We shall tour the palace and the grounds!" Thor announced happily.  "We only have one day until the harvest hunt!"

 

* * *

 

 

The next day found the American high school students in something that closely resembled a professional sports team’s locker room.  They each had an impressive locker, filled with clothes that fit and would need to be worn for the hunt.

 

"It's a pretty impressive blend of synthetic material married with traditional design," Clint nodded as he pulled the shirt up and over his head.  One of the sleeves was long and the other was non-existant.  He grinned happily and nodded, "So much better for shooting crap."

 

"Eloquent," Helen rolled her eyes.  "I'm not so big on the hunting.  I'm more of a helping healer instead of a hurtful hunter."

 

"We know, you told us that about fifteen hundred times," Sam rolled his eyes, but his lips pulled up into an indulgent smile.  "Just think of it like a long walk in the woods with the other peaceful objectors while the more violent of us go and attempt to bring home a wild beast or two.  And besides, if any of us get hurt, you can stick a bandaid on us."

 

"Ten bucks on Clint winding up with an arrow in his butt by the three hour mark!" Cameron called out suddenly.  He was immediately inundated with the hands of his friends thrusting money at him and whispering their own guesses.  

 

"Not fair," Darcy shook her head, squinting in remembrance.  

 

The aftermath of the dream had been confusing.  

 

Certain curiosities were quenched.  But for the life of them, they couldn't remember what the original questions had been.  They remembered being in their together.  And Volstagg had reported that the entire clump of snuggled up bodies had been glowing blue intermittently throughout the three day long nap.  And they remembered waking up with the words _Turtle Sparkle Droppings_ , but everything else was just more of a feeling.  They were right where they were supposed to be for the moment.  And time would take care of the rest.

 

But every once in awhile, Darcy would get a bigger glimpse.  Like knowing that it wasn't fair to bet against Cameron about future events.  Or knowing that when Thor wrapped an arm around her and lifted her off her feet, it was like suddenly having a brother who just adored her.  And how she knew everything would solidify by the Winter Solstice in a few days.  

 

And most importantly what she remembered about Steve.  She’d lost him so many times throughout history.  The hurt was real and raw and her heart felt like it was snared up in a trap.  She _loved_ Steve.  But history dictated that she’d lose him.  And he’d lose her.  And it was so painful that she could barely stand to look at him at any given moment, while still feeling like she should grab him with both hands and never ever let him out of her sight.

 

Darcy smiled at Bucky and Natasha, who were looking over the weapons closet with little hearts shooting out of their eyes. Bucky had calmed some since the serum.  He was no longer actively worried about becoming a monster and was actually embracing the strength boost the serum had given him.  He’d convinced Sam to arm wrestle him a dozen times the night before, with some fantastic candy Sif had brought in at stake.  Sam was really pissed when he had lost all his candy and even more pissed when someone had told him that Bucky would probably never lose another arm wrestling match to him again.

  


Steve was watching Darcy, despite the fact that Sif, and now Hogan were following him around everywhere.  Steve had reluctantly 'sparred' with Sif the night before, and despite using all of his defensive knowledge with the new body, there came a point when he was just sick of dodging and managed to get Sif on her back pretty quickly.  

 

The joke Stark had made in concert with Fandral about Steve being the first man to get Sif on her back had been awful.  Darcy had been dragged from the gym room by Jane and Thor pretty quickly after that.

 

He still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her.  And that was that fancy pants Fandral's fault.  And Natasha and Bucky.  And Jane and Thor.  And Steve was just about ready to blame the entire world for that at this point.  

 

Darcy stopped watching Bucky and Natasha's (adorable) picking and choosing of the weapons before Scott came over to her with his head caught in the neck hole of the shirt that was some sort of kevlar, wool blend.  She laughed at Scott, a sound Steve didn't think he had heard directed at him since before this whole mess started.  Steve could feel his blood boiling up in him as his jaw set in a grim line at the sight of Darcy holding Scott's waving hand down in her own before reaching around him, pressing her front to his front  in order to try to get him dressed properly.

 

Steve ignored whatever Sif and Hogan were telling him and put on the stupid hunting uniform and stormed out of the locker room immediately.  He kept marching past Thor and Sam.  Past Frigga and Jane.  Past the actual horses that they were to use to get to the hunting grounds.  

 

He wasn't feeling so worthy at the moment of the serum that had made his body the way it was.  He picked up a round shield of metal at the very edge of the encampment and started off at a sprint into the woods, easily leaving his shadows behind.  

 

He was angry and jealous and murderous and possessive at that moment.  There wasn't much in him at that point in time that he thought was worthy or good.  He wanted to take the metal shield in his hand and bash it into Scott's head, and Fandral's head and anybody else's head who even got to breath the same air as Darcy at that point.  He didn't understand what was happening to him, but he wanted to both embrace this incredibly violent streak but also banish it deep down and not even think about it again.  

 

The stupid games had changed everything.  Had changed Darcy...Bucky...himself.  Everything was wrong and Steve hated it so much in that moment.  He took the shield and let it fly, smashing into a young sapling's trunk and embedding so far deep into the wood that the tree began to fall slowly from the place where Steve had split it.

  


"It takes what's in you and makes it stronger," a deeply posh, accented voice announced from behind Steve.

  


Steve was breathing heavily through his nose when he turned to look at whoever had come upon him.  Friend or foe didn't seem to matter at that point.  Steve was just angry, lost in a haze of hurt feelings and jealousy and vitriol.

 

Odin gave him a small nod of his head, as if acknowledging a fellow warrior.  Steve nodded back before going to the half fallen tree to pry out the shield.

 

"That is why it is important that those that attempt to take the serum are pure.  And the purity does not equate to chastity, that is just tradition, the purity means so much more about your spirit," Odin nodded.  "When I think about Thor's group of friends, I admit that as worthy as you are, Darcy may have been a better choice.  You have too much passion and righteous anger."

 

"You've never seen Darcy when someone tries to take the last french fry," Steve mumbled as he pulled the shield out.

 

"Still, compared to other serum takers, you are a triumph," Odin shrugged.  "The old Scottsman who took it and never came out quite right. He still struggles."

 

"Still?" Steve furrowed his brow.  "The last games were---"

 

"Yes, over a hundred years ago, but this as longer ago still," Odin nodded, a slight sparkle in his eye.  "My ancient ancestor fought in those games.  They didn't stand a chance.  And when the Scotts' Bannerman, seemingly meek and intelligent and good, took the serum...well, the astounding blue energy that you share with your beloved Thinker and your closest of friends is beautiful.  Muddled, dirty green is not so beautiful."

 

"Bannerman?" Steve shook his head.

 

"Was thought to be the most innocent of all the team, but even the most innocent hold rage and anger," Odin smiled.  "Even in you, Steven.  But if you ask the Bannerman, he would probably advise you not to hold that in.  It's best not to let these things fester."

 

_STEVEN, where ARE you?  Volstagg said you ran off into the hunting grounds alone.  I've been looking for you for an hour!_

 

Steve blinked and looked around helplessly, it felt very suddenly like all the anger was sapped from him and he felt calm and warm and loved instead.  Darcy was in his head, worried about him and he turned away from Odin, mumbling the words as he thought them.

 

"Just had to take a little run.  Sorry, Sparky.  I'll come right back to you."

 

_I don't like hunting._

 

"I know, sweetheart, neither do I.   I'll come back and---and we should talk a little and take a walk."

 

_Just far, far, far away from Clint.  Cameron says he's gonna hit his butt in about an hour and ten minutes._

  
“Steven?” Odin called out as he began to walk away.  “Just take care with your love for her.  It is the strongest thing in you, and it will rule you for good or bad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	18. Couldn’t Lose Me if You Tried

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! New chapter time! 
> 
> I hope it's what you've wanted.
> 
> It's what I have wanted...

 

**Chapter 18: Couldn’t Lose Me if You Tried**

  
  


The stars were definitely aligned and fate was smiling down on Steve.  

 

He found Darcy in a lovely little spot in the woods, with a charming babbling brook, energetic and loud compared to their calm little pond at home.  She was alone for the first time in what felt like forever.  Everyone having abandoned her for the hunt.  Even Helen was nowhere to be found, she may be a pacifist, but she was a pacifist with great skills with the first aid kit, and she was probably doggedly following her injury prone friends at the moment.

 

Darcy was sitting on a large, smooth rock, biting at her fingernails excessively as she looked around in worry.  Steve knew the moment she saw him.  Her eyes went wide, bright and sparkling and her hand dropped into her lap as her lips slowly parted to reveal a happy, relieved little grin.  Darcy always had the same reaction to seeing him, ever since they were tiny little kids.  Whenever she saw him, he felt important and warm and loved.  

 

But then he saw it dampen suddenly on her face as she checked her reactions very quickly.  The brilliant grin was replaced with a placid, forcibly friendly smile.  The eyes were lowered away from his own significantly adoring gaze.  Her posture went a little stiff as if she were bracing herself against something.  

 

"Sparky," Steve said quietly as he stood in front of her, willing her to look at him.  He'd have taken her speaking through those mysterious channels that allowed her voice to be in his head.  He'd have taken monosyllabic grunts at that point.  He just wanted her to talk to him.  He wanted to make things right.

 

"We're way behind the others," Darcy said quietly, hopping up onto her feet.

 

"Screw the others," Steve said quickly.  He put hands, that had once been too large for his small body, but were now proportionate to his height and bulk, on her shoulders and looked down at her as she finally looked up at him with a little bit of censure for his harsh words about their friends.  "Not screw them, I'm sure they'll be fine, and I just---this is the first time I've had you to myself in a long time."

 

"Bucky's in my head telling me what Barton is up to," Darcy said truthfully.

 

"Block him out, Darce, please," Steve requested politely.

 

"I---I don't think---alright," Darcy stammered, blinking earnestly and looking very focused for a second before her mind was all her own again.  For the most part.  There was that other person in the back of her brain.  The one that had seen so much and was just waiting to be allowed to be acknowledged.   "What did you want to talk about?"

 

Steve opened his mouth to speak and immediately thought better of it.  It was all so much easier when he was thinking about his plan of attack.  But now he looked down at her and she was everything and he didn't want to screw it up.

 

"Steven," Darcy sighed.  "We should go find everyone."

 

"No---I need to tell you something," Steve shook his head.  He didn't like looking down at her from his new height.  He wrinkled his nose a bit before moving his hands to under her arms and lifting her up, putting her on top of the rock that she had been sitting on.  Her eyes were now level with his and it felt so much better that way.  "That's more like it."

 

"Yeah.  I'm gonna have neck problems looking up at you all the time now," Darcy smiled.

 

"I love you," Steve blurted out hastily.  Her smile had give him peace and courage all at once and he wanted to get it out before he lost the bravery again.  

 

Darcy was quiet for a full minute, just staring right into his eyes, her expression frozen into one of nearly blank wonder.  Finally she blinked and Steve felt a little better now that she hadn't slapped him and run off.  

 

"I love you," he repeated.

 

"Steven---" Darcy finally found her voice, but it was a foreign thing.  Quiet and soft and not like his Darcy who was brash and funny and sarcastic.  

 

"I love you," he said a third time, as if he repeated it enough, she'd believe him.  One hand was back on her shoulder and the other landed on her cheek, slowly drawing lines on petal soft skin.  "There's never been anyone for me but you, Sparky.  Helen---with Helen it was a lie, she needed someone to take---the credit for something, and I was helping her.  I never could have done anything with another person that wasn't, that wasn't  _ you _ , sweetheart.  I love you and I've loved you for what feels like my whole life and maybe a couple of them before that---"

 

"Oh God," Darcy whispered, sounding a little desperate as tears slipped from her eyes.  Because it was true.  Steve had loved her for lifetimes at this point.  They'd found each other so many times only to lose each other so soon and in such painful, harsh ways.

 

"Please, Sparky, please say you love me too," Steve was hopeful, a tender smile on his face as his fingers continued to move ever so slightly on her cheek.  

 

"Of course I love you, you idiot," Darcy managed to croak out as she cried openly.  "But it's not enough, it's never enough!"

 

"Darcy?" Steve shook his head in confusion at her sudden anger and vitriol.  "What are you talking about?"

 

"The Titans!  The Gods, the fucking  whoever of it all, they think it's HILARIOUS to give us a shot each time and then they just rip it all away for the fun of it!" Darcy fumed.

 

Steve looked down and saw that her hands were glowing bright blue.  

 

"Sparky, calm down," Steve urged.

 

" _ No _ , I love you so much it HURTS to think of you getting taken away from me," Darcy admitted.

 

"I'm not going anywhere, no one is taking me from you," Steve promised.

 

"You don't know, you don't know what's in my head," Darcy shook her head at him feverently.  "Every time you get killed, Steve.  Every single time."

 

"It's different now though, isn't it?" Steve tried to follow her train of thought.  She was talking about the Games.  She was talking about past lives.  He didn't understand it completely, but there were ghosts of feelings leftover from their shared dream a few days ago.  "I'm different and you're different and so are Bucky and Nat.  Sweetheart, you gotta calm down for me."

 

"I finally want to  _ fight _ , and you're telling me to calm down?" Darcy demanded.  "I want to smash those asshole puppet masters to smithereens and you're telling me to calm down?!"

 

"Sparky!" Steve's hands went for her wrists and held them up and away from her body. Blasts of blue energy began pulsing from her body, rushing away through the air of the forest, away from the clearing they were in. Steve tried to count them, but he knew.  He  _ knew _ , it was enough for each of their friends.

 

If jumpstarting Jane and Bucky and Helen had caused Darcy to collapse into something like a coma for three days, giving powers to the rest of their friends was sure to put her out for even longer.  Steve did the only thing he thought would work.

 

He kissed her.

  
  


He dropped his hold on her wrists and put one hand at the back of her her head, tangling in curly brown locks and the other at the small of her back, strong and sure and pressing her just hard enough to have her body pressing against his as she immediately began kissing him back.  

 

A firm press of their mouths changed in a heartbeat as lips parted.  Steve felt Darcy's hands on his shoulders, slowly moving to his neck and upwards until soft little fingers hit his earlobes and he shivered against her at the contact.  He took her bottom lip between his lips and groaned at the plush feel of it.  When he let go he found that Darcy's tongue teased along his own bottom lip and he couldn't just let her play like that without chasing with his own.  

 

It was the best kiss of his life so far.  Granted the first kiss had been when he was five and Darcy was four, and while that would forever be one of his bright and cherished memories, this was better in a very different way.  And he'd wager he was doing a pretty good job at it from the soft little strangled noises vibrating through her throat.  He pulled away just a small fraction and whispered against her lips

 

"I'm never gonna leave you behind.  Never gonna leave you.  Nothing and no one is going to make me let you go."

 

"Steven," Darcy whimpered before kissing him again, fierce and strong and with more passion than just herself.  

 

The blue light came back, but Steve was too far gone to care.  It was half coming from him at this point now, until the two of them were in a bright blue globe of it, safe and warm and lovely.  

 

Steve pushed against the small of her back again and she took the hint, launching herself at him and wrapping her legs around his waist as he wrapped both arms around her.  He placed searing little brands of kisses against her jaw and she made one of those moaning sounds that threatened to be his undoing.  She whispered a name softly, foreign and ancient, and it wasn't his, but he knew it had been at one point.  It was probably his first name.  It didn't bother him in the slightest.  He didn't understand the whole reincarnation thing, but he knew that person was him too, and that Darcy loved him.

 

That seemed to be the only thing that mattered to Steve at the moment.

 

She loved him, too.

In the back of his head he remembered Odin's words.  Steve's love for Darcy was the strongest thing in him.  It could be good or bad.  He remembered overhearing his mother talking to Darcy's Nana so long ago, it was like a hazy flash of a memory, the words unclear but the message understood.  The adults had thought it would have been a good idea to keep Darcy and Steve apart after they had been caught cuddling during nap time together.  He hadn't understood the words then, but he had understood that it had been an absolutely appalling idea to him at the time.  

 

He'd gotten spanked for rushing into the kitchen and upending the table and turning around and glaring at the two ladies who he loved very dearly.  He'd thrown a fit screaming that they couldn't take his Darcy from him.

 

He might have been four at the time.  And no one ever talked about separating him from Darcy ever again.  Not even in school.  

 

Now he had his Darcy in his arms, her lips against his, the very promise that they'd be together in every way for as long as they could manage it and he  decided in that moment, with her softness fairly melting into his body and in his hands, he would always  choose good.  The love he held for her was such a beautiful thing that he would never allow it to turn his heart ugly or his intentions bad.  

  
  


Darcy shimmied her body against him and he felt her brush against the evidence of his excitement and the shocks of delight and want that went through him had him staggering slightly on the ground, still with a firm grip of Darcy against him.  

 

The energy around them pulsed it's strongest yet and exploded out around them.  The sound was like a sonic boom as the energy dissipated quickly outwards.  It was like a powerful wind and hit the red leaves that were left on the trees, causing them to simultaneously fall down in a fluttering mass.  

 

"HEY!"

 

Bucky ran into the clearing, closely followed by a worried Natasha.  They both took in a simultaneous breath of relief at the sight of Darcy and Steve in a compromising position.  

 

"I couldn't feel you for a minute," Bucky admitted quietly. He hadn’t wanted to interrupt the obvious progress between his two best friends, but without a little bit of Darcy in his brain, he felt out of control and wild.  He knew Natasha felt the same, even if she was better at coping with it than he was.  Bucky gave Steve a sympathetic little shrug, "Sorry, pal."

 

"S'okay," Steve's voice rumbled through his throat, sending delicious little shivers through Darcy's body.  "Go back to the hunt."

 

"Problem with that, Steve," Natasha shook her head. 

 

The sound of something flying along the wind, like an overly large paper plane cutting through the air echoed throughout the now leafless clearing.  An Asgardian armor covered figure flew threw the air, zooming in a circle before landing on his feet.

 

"HOLY SHIT GUYS! DID YOU SEE THAT?" Sam demanded, putting his hands on his waist and posing as impressively as he could.  "Some of Darcy's jumpstarting energy hit me and I can fucking fly, man.  I can  _ fly _ !"

 

"Oh shit," Darcy breathed.  She met Steve's curious glance and shrugged.  "I don't feel tired at all."

 

Natasha rolled her eyes fondly at the girl, "You  _ should _ , because just wait until you see what you've managed to do to the rest of them."

 

"Double shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....yes???? 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	19. Double Crap Sundae

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo....to say that I lost the muse on this bad boy is an understatement. I'm still trying to find it so that I can finish it! Or at least get it to a decent Book One ending point. I don't like the idea of unfinished things under my profile, and I don't like not giving the loyal readers of this answers.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who was so patient in waiting for this next chapter! I hope you like this silly bit of zaniness. 
> 
> (Previously on this zany thing) Darcy and Steve are totally kissing and smooching and hugging and inappropriately rubbing. And when they do, some energy gets zapped out into the stratosphere, and it seems that it has given Sammy the power of fight. and that's not all...

**Chapter Nineteen: Double Crap Sundae**

* * *

 

"Oh god, Sparky, what did you do?" Steve whispered as they followed a flying Sam up into a clearing about a half mile away from where the rest of their friends were gathered.   His voice was far from condemning, but rather, full of awe and amazement as he blasphemed,  "Jesus, fucking, Christ."

 

"HEY!  I didn't do anything," Darcy insisted.  "I mean, I didn't  _ try _ to do anything. And I’m pretty sure you can share some of the blame with the kissing...and the  _ kissing _ ."

 

Sam did a loop in the air, flying without the assistance of wings, and looking thrilled to do it.  It was graceful and beautiful and absolutely fucking terrifying, because their friend, who had been perfectly normal before, if a little above average at hand to hand combat and way above average in professional chicken wing eating, was now flying through the air like Superman.  

 

Steve gave Darcy's hand a squeeze and another burst of blue light went out.

 

" _ SEE!   _ You, this is you, this is your fault!" Darcy concluded quickly, pulling her hand out of Steve's grasp.  "You're giving me some kind of power boost STD and it's making stuff go haywire."

 

"STD?" Bucky questioned, stopping in their quick run back to the rest of the team.  Darcy was red faced and panting from the pace of the jog, but Bucky, Natasha and Steve all seemed completely fine.  Bucky glared at Steve in question and shook his head ever so slightly back and forth.  "Explain."

 

"There was no sex, there was...just kissing, and---touching," Steve stammered.

 

Natasha arched an impressed brow Darcy's way.

 

"Not all the touching!" Darcy insisted.  "Just...some hand stuff."

 

It was Bucky's turn to give her a look and it was one of abject horror.  He turned it to Steve and shook his head with more grim determination.  Sure, he wanted progress between his two best friends, he figured they ought to hold hands and exchange kisses but anything above and beyond that made his protective nature over Darcy flare up a bit.  She was his precious little Sparky, a kid sister he loved just as much as his regular sisters, and Steve may have been harmless as a little guy, but now he was gigantic and musclely and probably had an overload of hormones, and god what if they went too far and Darcy got into trouble with serum enhanced super babies?  

 

Bucky's glare intensified.

 

"Not that kind of hand stuff!" Steve held up his hands as if to protest he and Darcy's shared innocence.

 

"You lyin' to me, punk?" Bucky demanded.  "You two are getting a chaperone, toot sweet."

 

"Really?" Darcy huffed out in annoyance.

 

"Amusing," Natasha smirked at Bucky.  He was adorable when he was being overly protective.   "But I agree.  If making out and hands over the clothes groping..."

 

"And grinding," Darcy announced with some sort of maniac defiance aimed at Bucky.  "Like clothed private parts rubbing against each other and it was FUN and I'll do it again too! Cause it felt nicer than almost anything and I bet it would be fun without the clothes too!"

 

"Darce!" Bucky was horrified, like a Victorian lady who had taken the vapors.

 

"C'mon, Steve, let's go and make out some more," Darcy grabbed Steve's hand and yanked him off the path, and to his credit he did what she said. He thought about how he had been holding her in his arms, having her legs wrapped around him and imagined it WITHOUT clothes.  His brain promptly fizzled out and a burst of blue light ignited between their clasped hands.

 

"HANDS OFF!" Bucky said anxiously.

 

"I really have to agree here," Natasha admitted reluctantly, putting herself physically in between Darcy and Steve, flinching only a little when she pulled apart their conjoined hands and felt a bit of warmth hit her gut.  "You need to see what this has done before you try and make it... _ worse _ ."

 

"What could be worse than bird brain up there flying through the sky?" Darcy huffed out in annoyance, nevertheless allowing Natasha to pull them both along as she acted as a buffer.

 

"You'll see," Natasha promised as Sam flew back to them for a second, grinning widely before doing a complicated twisting roll in the air and flying back to the clearing.

 

The first thing they saw was Jane.  And then they didn't see her.  And then they saw her again.  She seemed to be blipping in and out of reality on them, and each time she came back a little more windswept.  

 

"Hey," she grinned at Darcy, nearly maniacal before disappearing again.

 

"Uhoh," Darcy shook her head.

 

Jane reappeared in a little blast of rainbow colored light and put up her hands in excitement, "You know how when we were---"

 

Another blip.

 

"---little and I said I wanted to go to vaca---"

 

"Tion on a different planet---"

 

"Well I just did---holy shii---"

 

"iiiit, dude, this is amazeba---"

 

"allss."

 

"JANIE!" Darcy called out, reaching for her once and catching nothing but air.  The next time she held on tight to try and get Jane to stop, but she just blinked out of existence with her and the view she got when she opened her eyes was absolutely astounding.  

 

They were among the stars.  Literally, for one brief nanosecond, before they were back on the forest floor of Asgard.  

 

"STOP!" Darcy commanded and Jane whimpered as she had no option but to comply to Darcy's command.  Darcy shook her head in disbelief.  "Just because you can go wherever you want, doesn't mean you should.  What if you lost control and wound up there in the stars with no friendly oxygen to keep your Janie brain running?"

 

"I don't like your practical logic, I prefer my superior  _ Beam Me Up, Janie _ logic," Jane wrinkled her nose.

 

"Okay, here's what you're going to do, you're going to practice, with baby steps.  Just in a big circle around this forest," Steve suggested, trying to evade Natasha to get a hand on Darcy.  The disappearance of Darcy into thin air had been terrifying and for a second he couldn't feel her at all.  But then when she had come back with her breath literally stolen from her, he'd seen red.  He never ordered Jane around normally, she was usually pretty terrifyingly set on doing what she wanted to do, but this was a special circumstance.   "And when we think you have enough control, we'll revisit this whole, going into space thing.  And don't ever, EVER blink out with Darcy attached to you like that again, unless she knows where you're going."

Usually Jane would have mocked Steve, flipped him the bird, and gone about doing whatever the hell she pleased, however the hell she pleased.  But there was something in his tone, and the absolute terror flashing in his eyes that had her merely shrugging in agreement, before beginning to blip out of half second intervals and appear one foot in front of her.  

 

"Okay, what else?" Steve looked around, suddenly every inch the team captain.  "Barton get down from there!'

 

"I can see Amsterdam from here!" Clint yelled back.  "Something is about to be getting good in that storefront window, and by good I mean triple X-rated, and I really want to see how it ends."

 

"NOW BARTON!" Darcy yelled.

 

He sighed obnoxiously before simply falling from the very high tree he had perched himself in.  It looked like he was about to fall face first, when about ten feet from the ground, he did some kind of elegant turn of his body and landed on his feet easily.

 

"Hey, I'm super pissed at you for giving Sam the ability to fly, you know I wanted to fly, Darce," Clint whined at her.  

 

"Actually, you asked for a weaponry based skill," Natasha reminded him helpfully.

 

"Well if you count my awesome body as a weapon, then mission accomplished," Clint grinned with an absurd amount of superiority.  "I got all the animals in the hunt.  Hunt's cancelled, cause Barton's AWESOME."

 

"He shot everything down from the tree in the span of forty seconds," Helen reported, looking up into the sky anxiously, as if waiting for Sam to fall down.  "And I think he has super sight."

 

"I like the little cartoon hearts on the panties, Darce," Clint winked.

 

"Or x-ray vision," Helen rolled her eyes.  

 

"I feel cheated, dude, like I already had good vision cause of the bad hearing.  You essentially just made me a little more awesome than I already was," Clint nodded.  "And Sam gets to fly, and Thor gets to control lightning and that makes it seem like, maybe you love them more than me, Darcy-loo, and I know that's not true---"

 

"Barton, up in the tree again, keep a lookout and let us know when anyone is close," Steve ordered.

 

"Shoot at anyone who gets close?" Barton offered.

 

"LET US KNOW," Bucky said clearly and definitely annoyed.

 

"Hold on," Helen reached out and grabbed Clint by the collar.  She made an unhappy snorting sound at the scratch on the back of Clint's neck he had gotten from free falling from over thirty feet in the air.  She put her hand on the back of Clint's neck and a muted blue light bloomed out of her skin.  When she pulled away, Clint's neck was injury free.  She turned to Darcy and smiled, "The first time that happened was on his butt after we got the arrow out."

 

"And the next ten times?" Natasha prodded.

 

"I fell when I made Sam try to carry me around like a baby bird," Clint nodded, not ashamed in the least.

 

"I like it.  It's new and different from what the old powers were, that's cool," Helen smiled softly at Darcy.  "Thanks."

 

"No need to thank me," Darcy insisted.  "So, Thor?  He can do what with lightning now?" 

 

"He ran off like, five minutes ago to the palace with Sif and Hogan.  Something about getting hammered?" Sam answered as he touched down on the ground for the first time since getting hit with the good blue light and finding that his feet were floating off the ground.  He put an arm around Helen's shoulders and said, "C'mon, girlie, you're going for a fly."

 

"NO! NO! NO!!" Helen shouted as Sam lifted her up like he was Superman and she was Lois Lane.  She smacked his head and said, "I'm going to give you a concussion and then heal you and then concuss you again!"

 

Steve rolled his eyes and turned to face the other side of the clearing.  Cameron was just sort of staring off into space, but Tony was sitting with his arms crossed, looking angry and miserable.  He glared openly at Darcy, his face the perfect picture of petulance.

 

"So everyone else gets cool new powers, even LANG, and I get a big fat nothing," Tony called out irritably.  "I mean, I always knew that I wasn't really a part of this team, that you guys only put up with me cause you had to, but this is a huge smack in the face and you're kind of a bitch, Lewis."

 

"HEY," Steve pointed an irate finger at Tony and reached around Natasha again to grab at Darcy's hand.  This time, the blue light was small and settled on their fingertips instead of pushing out into the world and at their friends.  "Watch your mouth."

 

"Oh stuff it, you self righteous prick!" Tony sneered at Steve.  "This is bullshit and Lewis knows it.  You're intentionally leaving me out because you don't like me, and that's an asshole move.  I thought we were all getting along, I thought we were all friends now, and look---"

 

"Tony," Darcy blinked at him in wonder.

 

"WHAT?" Tony demanded.

 

"Look," Darcy pointed around him.

 

Floating near his head were three cell phones that had been in the pocket of Jane, Natasha and Tony himself, a gameboy DS which was Sam's and  a very dated beeper from Scott, presumably.  They were just floating there, facing Tony, as if waiting for instruction.

 

"Holy shit, I can control technology," Tony breathed out.  His grin was blinding and he aimed in Darcy's way.  "Kudos, Lewis.  That's fucking amazing!"

 

"And new," Cameron whispered.  He was pale and shivering, a cold sweat all over his body.  "Too many new things, the variables are too much and there's too many paths, too many alternative endings, I didn't ask for these bonus features and here they are, too much stolen, too much taken, and I can't watch them all, I can't do it, because it's---I don't want to see the bad ones, I can't...it's too much new!"

 

"Cam," Darcy breathed out, squeezing on Steve's hand and pulling him around the very bad human shield that Natasha made to sink to her knees in front of Cameron, who did not look well at all.

 

"He's worse than he was at first," Bucky said quietly, clearly worried about his friend.  When the light had hit Cameron square in the gut, he'd fallen down, but gotten back up again with Bucky's help.  

 

He'd smiled at Bucky warmly and nodded.   _ You're gonna be fine, dude.  Relax. _

 

But then Sam started flying, and Jane started disappearing and Thor was hit with a bolt of freaking lightning and Natasha and Bucky thought they might not be fine until they found Darcy and Steve.  Bucky wished he hadn't left Cameron.  The rest of the crew had obviously been too busy to look after him, and now it looked like the poor guy was ready for a straight jacket.

 

"I keep seeing the paths and they lead to different places, like in an Ikea where you can take the secret shortcuts and get to the meatballs faster, but we shouldn't---I don't know, one path says meatballs and the other says big time certain doom, which would make a great band name, but that's not the path, where's the path, which is the right path?  WHY DO WE ALL MAKE SO MANY DECISIONS?" Cameron had been rambling at a low volume and then he suddenly looked up at Steve and screamed it at him.  "LET HER MAKE THE DECISIONS SO THERE'S LESS!"

 

"Shit, shit," Darcy whispered.  She looked up at Steve with teary eyes.  "It's too much, there are too many different futures out there, and it's---it's confusing him."

 

"It's tearing him apart," Natasha shook her head.  "Like the oracles in the old stories, they just went mad---"

 

"What do I do?" Darcy asked with tears in her eyes.  "I didn't mean to put all that on him, it was just what was right, what do I do? How do we make it right?"

 

Steve stood quickly, going over the options they had.  They could knock Cameron out, keep him sedated somehow so the possible future visions wouldn't torture him.  But that was a temporary solution, because Steve wasn't willing to have his friend be put into a coma for any period of time.  Darcy could try to pull the power out of Cameron.

 

"No, no, no, no, no, not that," Cameron began trembling all over as a vision of darkness came over him, a fresh wave of sweat breaking out on his forehead that Bucky had just wiped off.  "It'll kill me, it'll kill me, lights out, no more movies in my head.  You can't, you can't, Steve.  They're a part of us, always have been always will be, just needed the spark. You can't.  I'll die and take the spark with me.  You can't."

 

"No, I won't," Steve promised.  He thought through a plan as quickly as he could before nodding, and grabbing Darcy's hands, pulling her up even as she tried to soothe Cameron as best as she could.  He pulled her tight against his body, putting large hands on her hips and gripping her body so that it couldn't move much more than a wiggle.

 

"Hey now!" Bucky warned.

 

"oh---oh.  Oh," Cameron blinked.  "Woah, _oh_.  That's a lot of.  You know."

 

He paused for five seconds completely.

 

" _Skin_."

 

"Sparky, use everything you have, everything you need and rebuild it for him," Steve suggested.  "Like---put a timer on it, so he doesn't see everything at once, just a pathway once it becomes clear."

 

"When a decision is made that makes it clear," Natasha nodded in agreement.  "Smaller turn around time, but a coherent Cameron sounds good."

 

"I don't know if I can do that," Darcy shook her head, looking up at Steve with uncertainty.

 

"You can do everything," Steve promised.  "Just, take what you need."

 

And then he kissed her, and it wasn't the kind of kiss you engaged in with friends and polite company present.  The blue light blanketed them immediately and Natasha yanked Bucky out of the way before it could encase him too.  

 

"Aww, come on, hands in appropriate places!" Bucky yelled out as Steve put his hands on Darcy's bottom and pulled her up his body.  "Darcy-loo, you stop that!  Stop that wiggling right now!"

 

"Was going on?  Oh damn, Darce, you get that, you get it right!" Sam called out joyously as Darcy avidly kissed Steve, shimmying and wiggling fun and interesting places against the hard planes of Steve's body.  

 

She finally pulled away from his mouth, breathless, and Steve's kisses went from her chin to her neck and threatened lower.

 

"HOLY SHIT, Steve's got the biggest boner right now," Clint yelled from a nearby tree.  "I can see it from here."

 

"Keep that mouth north of the Mason Dixon line, pal!" Bucky warned.

 

"This is ridiculous," Natasha rolled her eyes.  

 

"I saw Thor fart lightning, this is not ridiculous," Jane answered before blipping back out again.  "This is hoooooooooot.  I mean, I love Darcy like a sister, but even I've wanted to---"

 

Jane blipped out again to reappear a foot further than before.  She was really intent on earning the right to go wherever she pleased.

 

"-just put my face in them and go bllllllpppppppp."

  
  


"Can we please see that?" Tony piped in as he worked on taking apart everyone's electronics and building a small bot, no tools really necessary as the mechanical bits and bobs did what he wanted wordlessly.  "I'd pay good money to see that."

 

"Is that my gameboy?  DUDE.  My gameboy!" Sam whined.

 

"Steven Grant Rogers!  Get your mouth away from there!" Bucky yelled.

 

"Don't know why he bothers, it's gonna happen and it's gonna happen a lot, it's there now, cement.  Pathway in cement cause the big cheese figured it out," Cameron mumbled as the blue light began drifting from Steve and Darcy in tendrils towards Cameron, looking like a soft, cool fog.  "Battery packs. Symbiotes. Fed by love.  Fed by passion.  Fed by something as old as the Earth. And it might end it, it might end it all, start us over new and shiny, but there's too many paths going through and cutting cross, and I can't---I can't..."

 

Cameron took a deep breath and a calm went over his face as the first blue tendrils made their way onto his skin, seeping in and floating up towards his brain.  

 

"I can't see," Cameron breathed out.  "Oh, good, that's good.  So much better.  Like little surprise bags.  I like the surprise bags."

 

"I know you do, Cam.  We'll go and get some at the bookstore when we get home," Natasha offered helpfully.

 

"Awesome, yeah, blindy bags," Cameron nodded.  "So much better this way."

 

"He's good?" Bucky wondered.

 

"I think so," Natasha nodded.

 

"So, they can stop?" Bucky wondered.  He held up his hands innocently at Natasha's glare.  "It's not me being overprotective of Darcy's virtue, but if they keep it up, we're going to get another sonic boom of light and power, and fuck if I know what happens to us all then, because I know that you're stronger now, because I'm stronger now, and I don't think any of us needs to be stronger.  And hey---where the fuck did Lang go?"

 

"I'm right here big guy!" Lang called out, but the voice was tiny and squeaky and barely audible.

 

"Holy shit, he's on your shoulder, that's awesome.  He's so cute!" Clint called out from his tree.  "I wanna squish him!"

 

Steve let out a low groan as Darcy did something apparently lethal with her hips while simultaneously planting her mouth firm against his lips once again.

 

Cameron's eyes widened and he shook from head to toe as one of his surprise bags opened with a vision behind his eyelids.  He opened his eyes and looked around nervously, he yanked on Natasha forcefully and lay down on the ground with her on top of him.

 

"Holy shitballs, everyone down!" Cameron called out.  He was lucid now but still screaming, "GET DOWN NOW!"

 

"Uhoh," the small Lang voice came into Bucky's ear before a single thread hanging off of Bucky's t-shirt was pulled loose and suddenly Bucky heard Scott letting out an excited  _ WOOHOO _ , the volume of it trailing off as if Scott had fallen off a cliff.

 

"Fuck," Steve muttered and froze, his body twitching.  He stumbled slightly, with Darcy still attached to him and the broken connection caused the blue light to dispel.  Violently.  

 

Bucky caught a full blast of it on his left arm as his right managed to push against Sam and Helen so they were on the ground.  He blinked against it and felt the ridiculous amount of power surge into him.

 

"Oh... _oh_ ," Bucky managed to whisper, holding up his left arm, which felt quite a bit heavier and denser than it usually did.   "That's really not good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading! Thank you for supporting this in my absence and I hope we'll see each other again in a week!


	20. A Low Key Interloper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Just a gentle reminder, I don't enjoy receiving concrit and have never actually solicited it. I know my flaws and I've made peace with them, it kills my muse to have them pointed out to me, so if you don't like the story or the pacing or think the quality has gone down, kindly keep it to yourself and most importantly STOP READING. Don't torture yourself with something you don't like. 
> 
> Also! HI! I have not yet decided where I'm breaking this chapter off. You may hate me by the end!!! (she says after asking for no concrit with a genuine smile on her face)

**Chapter Twenty: A Low Key Interloper**

 

* * *

 

It seemed for all intents and purposes, that Thor was entirely incapable of selecting any sort of friend of a higher caliber.  The blond buffoon chose idiots and simpletons in Asgard to be his closest companions and compatriots.  And in America, he had also surrounded himself with the most idiotic of men and women.  

 

For example, the shaggy haired tall one who had taken the brunt of the energy blast from the highly indecent pair who had been practically mating a few minutes ago, was now jumping up and down like a highly trained circus monkey, waving his left arm around.

 

"YOU MADE MY ARM A METAL ARM!" he shouted at the tall blond that wasn't Thor.

 

Steve.  His name was Steve, and previous preparations at the Academy had indicated that the man had been much smaller than he currently was.  It didn't matter, because the back of Steve's t-shirt was gripped in the shaggy haired one's (Files had indicated that this one was named BUCKY of all things) left hand as Steve was yanked forcefully away from the mysterious buxom, little brunette.  

 

"WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU MORON?!" Bucky demanded of Steve.

 

"Calm down, it's not metal," Natalia gave Bucky an unimpressed look that seemed to be a polite invitation for Bucky to place Steve back on the ground.

 

Everyone at the Academy knew who Natalia was.  She was supposed to have joined them on their thirteenth year when they had all started on the journey to the Solstice Changing.  Instead, she had ducked her own handlers, found an escape and wound up at Martinville High instead.  

 

It was to be believed that she was an incredibly worthy opponent, even before any powers the Solstice could imbue upon her.

 

Bucky threw Steve down on the ground unceremoniously and turned his left hand in the dwindling light of the sunset.  It did appear to glint slightly, but still looked like a normal human arm.  Natasha reached out and gripped her hand on his left bicep and if the way her eyebrows darted up ever so slightly, it was to be believed that Bucky's arm might have been something indeed.

 

Natalia turned to the buxom little brunette, and gave her a gentle smile.  

 

The Academy had never given any of the students a file on the brunette.  She was a wild card, to be sure.  In concert with the tall, daft, well-muscled Steve, she had managed to create an energy blast like something he had never seen before.

 

And Loki Odinson of Asgard had seen quite a few oddities in his nineteen years of life.

 

"Would the two of you like to be separated until we can figure out how to control it?" Natalia asked, clearly already knowing the answer.

 

"No!" Steve shook his head desperately, his hand reaching for the little brunette, blue energy wafting the two foot distance between their fingertips.  

 

Loki didn't know what he was witnessing, but he knew he needed to be on the receiving end of that energy.  From what he had witnessed, the idiots that Thor had chosen as friends were now gifted with abilities that seemed so far advanced or entirely new compared to what previous games had seen.  

 

He had to get his hands on that buxom little brunette.  

 

* * *

 

 

"Hold still, let me try to melt your elbow again."

 

Bucky scoffed, "You can't melt my awesome arm, it's too awesome, even for your nerdy superpowers."

 

Natasha heaved a deep, put upon sigh as she entered the room that Frigga had supplied the teenagers with in order to work.  It was large, and bright and comfortable, and had antique desks and overly plush, modern sofa sectionals all through out.  Twenty-four hours ago, they had only really used the room to watch Thor's favorite movies from his childhood, while Darcy and Steve tried to pore over folk lore and research that Frigga and Volstagg had provided.

 

Now, everyone was spread out across the room, each working through their own power as best as they could, refining every detail they could manage.  Sam was hovering just six inches off of the ground, and it was proving to be much more difficult than soaring through the air haphazardly.  He was dripping with sweat, and his face was buttoned up with apparent concentration.  

 

Jane was still doing those tight, controlled blips, but they were less frequent now.  Every time she came back, she dove for where she had left her notebook last and began making copious amounts of notes in her signature chicken scratch.  Cameron was working on his own books, writing down as much as he could about what he had seen before Darcy and Steve had managed to put a leash on his power.  It was mostly nonsensical, and somehow seemed to spill out in dirty limerick fashion, but he figured every little bit could help with their future.

 

Scott was still miniature, and apparently he was working with Clint on a way to use a good, old fashioned arrow as a means of transportation.  Sadly, that wasn't the stupidest thing happening in the room.

 

Helen was standing at the unimpressed ready next to Tony and Bucky, as Tony avidly tried to completely destroy Bucky's left arm.  The youngest Stark had a blow torch in his right hand and a small buzz saw in his left hand and an absolutely demented gleam in his eye.

 

Natasha smacked both Tony and Bucky upside the head for good measure.

 

"Ow, concussed," Tony gasped out, dropping immediately to his knees from the severity of Natasha's enhanced blow.  "How much super juice did the two of you get?!"

 

He meant to say that, but what came out was more along the lines of "Chow Mein noodles Slueths aren't the rent!"

 

"Uhoh, that's super concussed," Helen blinked, before approaching Tony carefully and placing two glowing hands on his temples.

 

"Gentle, gentle, Dr. Bedside Manner!" Tony barked out.  "Jesus, I'm gonna pay for a manicurist to come in and cure you of your rough, lumberjack hands!"

 

"He's fine," Natasha rolled her eyes.

 

"Me too," Bucky held up his hands when Helen went to advance on him as well.  "All good, Cho-meister----yow!"

 

Natasha swatted at Bucky's supposedly indestructible left hand and was pleased to see that she could still hurt him with a precise pinch.  She then forcibly placed her palm on Bucky's chest, sending him hurtling backwards into the air fifteen feet, knocking Sam off of his small perch and sending both boys tumbling to the ground.

 

"Nat, dollface, c'mon," Bucky whined.  

 

"You made Darcy cry at what she'd done to your arm, and here you are playing with it like it's a toy!" Natasha accused.

 

"Our Sparky's cryin'?" Bucky fretted, shuffling to his feet.  "I didn't mean to do that.  I wanted Steve to feel bad for being so reckless with his bad touch of Darcy-loo."

 

"You're an idiot," Natasha accused calmly, knowing that Bucky was telling the truth.  He hadn't wanted Darcy to feel bad about the arm.

 

"You knew that already," Bucky fired back at her, nearly as calmly.  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "C'mon, let's go and cheer the girl up.  I think if we can find Thor's old nanny, we might be able to get something sorta similar to ice cream."

 

"Steve is cheering her up right now," Natasha smirked devilishly.

 

"Awww, disgusting," Bucky sighed.

 

"They're in the hovel," Natasha reported helpfully.

 

"Hold on, MY hovel?" Clint spun around.  He was notorious for searching out small, cramped spaces wherever they ended up and laying claim to them.  Usually no one else wanted a dark, dank cave where Clint kept his untold 'treasures'.   "But I use it for---stuff?"

  


"It's also air-tight," Jane answered automatically.  "Except for the crawly space into it.  Wait, it's a hobbit hovel here, or was the hobbit hovel at Tony's dad's traitor island?"

 

"Rude!" Tony called out.

 

"Tony's Dad's Traitor's Island was more of a monkey hovel," Sam relayed helpfully.

 

"And his hovel at school was more subterranean in nature," Cameron added, his original humor returning in small spurts after his earlier trauma.

 

"You people know far too much about my hovels," Clint pouted.

 

"Did you close them in tight?" Jane wondered of Natasha.  She laughed and went back to her notebooks, without even allowing the redhead to answer.  "Of course you did."

 

"They're locked in until they can show that holding hands and sharing cute little pecks on the cheek aren't going to give us all indestructible limbs," Natasha nodded.  

 

Bucky wrinkled his nose.  "So you just gave them privacy and seclusion to go at each other?!? NAT! C'mon!  My precious little virgins deserve better than one of Clint's disgusting, disease ridden hovels!"

 

Clint shot an arrow at the metal arm, disappointed when it just bounced off harmlessly.  "Rude!"

 

* * *

 

"I love when you do that," Steve whispered right before a deep, full body shudder had him quaking from the tips of his toes to the top of his recently heightened head.  "G---uh...good gravy."

 

Darcy cackled with laughter, letting her index fingers continue to stroke nonsensical circular patterns on the delicate skin of Steve's inner elbows.  It hadn't taken them long to figure it out since Natasha had stuffed them into the cool, dark, cramped space along with blankets and a few non-perishable snacks.  They could kiss and do heavy petting now easily without the power leaking out.  An hour after finally getting control of it, being able to turn it on at their whim, Darcy and Steve were now trying to figure out the little nuances.

 

They needed to make sure that every time Steve's finger traced Darcy's wrist, they weren't having a blue explosion of power.

  


Natasha had secured the little circular entrance to the cave with a rounded, metal shield.  Sif had assured her it was useless and had no sentimental value to anyone and even less practical value to anyone.  No one wanted to take a flimsy tin shield out for hunting.  

 

It might be worth a fair bit more now, however.  For the last two hours, it had been on the receiving end of the blue light, and the effect it had was similar to what had happened to Bucky's arm.  Steve had knocked his knuckles against it and couldn't help but hypothesize that the thing was damned near indestructible.

 

"Sparky," Steve sighed as she continued to draw her invisible art on his skin.  His arms tightened around her, pulling her so close to him, cuddling against each other in a way they hadn't since they were tiny children.  

 

Steve had always felt so safe when he was with Darcy when they were children.  It made sense to him.  They were soulmates, made perfectly to fit together and gone through life after life of pain and separation and death.  All the little things that had seemed odd to take comfort and joy in made sense now.  He knew why he liked to just watch Darcy bake.  He knew why he'd catch Darcy watching him while he was just reading something as mundane as a text book.  They were soaking in the nice little normal moments before everything went haywire again.

 

"I know," Darcy nodded against his shoulder.

 

"It'll be different this time," Steve promised.  "I don't remember so much as you, I guess.  But I know it'll be different this time."

 

"I know," Darcy repeated.  

 

"I love you," Steve whispered.

 

"I know," Darcy's smile was small and soft in the shadow's of Steve's embrace.  "I love you, too."

 

The none too gentle growl of her stomach had them both laughing in short order and reluctantly pulling away from each other.  Steve looked to the meager provisions that Natasha had provided and Darcy wrinkled her nose.

 

"She's so spartan," Darcy sighed.  "Living everyday like she's still in the hands of Mother Russia."

 

"It'll come in handy someday," Steve laughed.  He sat up easily, pulling Darcy up with him and adjusting her to sit in his lap.  "But in the meantime, we could use some of Thor's famous Asgardian feasts."

 

There was a knock at the makeshift shield door, and the sound of it was muted and dull and there was an actual cursing on the other side.

 

"I am not to disturb!" one of the Asgardians called out.

 

Steve wrinkled his nose as he realized it was probably Fandral.

 

"I only bring victuals so the important work can be continued!" Fandral promised.

  


"C'mon goofball, foooooood," Darcy wiggled against Steve and gestured her head towards their shield shaped door.  "And you know I can't budge that thing anymore."

 

"It's gonna come in handy, I think," Steve smiled at her in that eager, excited way of his, looking no different than he had a year ago when he had presented her with his license and went over the plan to steal Bucky's truck and head to the ice cream festival three towns over.

 

Darcy sighed, and put both hands on either side of his face, before placing her lips gently against his cheek.  The kiss was soft and sweet and full of innocence, despite Darcy's current position on top of Steve's lap.  A memory cut through Steve's brain, clear as day and overwhelming as his eyelashes dusted his cheeks as a happy flush spread across his cheeks.

 

They'd been very small, too young for kindergarten still.  Bucky hadn't been with them that cool, damp autumn day.  They'd been talking on the phone with Bucky, despite the fact that they weren't supposed to place calls.  And they'd all been sleepily chatting about their eventful days.  Bucky had been the first to drift off to sleep while still on the phone.  Steve was quick to follow but he remembered when Darcy had pressed her lips to his cheek and whispered in his ear in a childish declaration,

 

"I've been waiting forever and evers," Steve repeated to her now.  

 

Darcy blinked in surprise up at him, her eyes crinkling as she tried to understand why he would say such a thing.  That part of her that was newly awakened, the memories of lifetimes before filled her in quickly and the smile was warm and filled with a sort of wry innocence that Steve could only ever remember Darcy showing.

 

"Well, I have," Darcy shrugged.  "And this time, it's going to be different."

 

"I promise," Steve nodded.

 

His stomach gurgled in hunger and Darcy's answered the call and they both laughed.  

 

"Ever since the Titan's curse, I've been hungrier," Steve said apologetically, carefully picking Darcy up and off of his lap and placing her to his side.  He hunched and then literally got on his hands and knees to crawl towards the opening of the space Natasha had locked them in. Darcy followed behind, making terrific little giggling noises that Steve could only guess, knowing Darcy so well as he did, were about his rear end.

 

He may have shimmied a little for her, garnering more little, excited giggles.

 

Steve took a deep breath before pressing against the seemingly impenetrable shield that acted as their doorway.  It budged only a little, so he braced himself before bringing his shoulder down on it powerfully once, twice, three times before he literally fell forward as the shield clattered to the ground.

 

Fandral was standing in front of them, but he wasn't smirking and leering as he usually would be when Darcy was within earshot.  This was mainly due to the fact that Fandral was unconscious and in the clutches of another young man, looking to be about their age, if not a year or two older.  Fandral was thrown roughly to the side and Steve scrambled to his feet, looking the man in the eye.  They were the same height, though Steve was now broader and more muscular than the slim man with the black hair that hung down to his shoulders.

 

Darcy hopped out of the space as well and Steve took a conscious step to stand directly in front of her.  The mystery man's green eyes had lit up with malicious delight when he had seen Darcy.  Every muscle in Steve's body tensed and his brain, which had always been quick to come up with worst case scenarios, went into overdrive.  In the span of five seconds, he had come up with thirty-four solid ways to incapacitate the man glaring at him for shielding Darcy from his view.  

 

None of the thirty-four ways were particularly pretty, but Steve didn't really give a damn at that point.

 

"Forgive the deception," the man's lips curled upwards in the hint of a venomous smile.  "I wanted to meet my dear brother's honored guests."

 

Darcy's hand rose and touched the small of Steve's back and there was a one spark of blue between their bodies before a rush went through them both.

 

 _His name is Loki_...

 

Steve swallowed at Darcy speaking with him telepathically.  He knew she had done it before, but this was effortless.  And having her voice there, right in his head was all kinds of comforting.  And arousing, but that could be dealt with at a later time.

 

 _What does he want?_  Steve wondered at Darcy.

 

_He wants---he's angry about Thor.  His brother---he's brothers with Thor..._

 

Darcy's thoughts were disjointed and Steve realized she was splitting her energy, trying to probe into this Loki character's mind while keeping the conversation with Steve open and moving.  

 

Loki squinted his eyes even harder and took a step to see Darcy fully behind Steve's bulky frame.  He arched an eyebrow as he looked her up and down like a piece of meat.  Then he winced and put his hand up to his head.

 

"What are you doing you cunning little minx?" Loki demanded.  "What are you capable of?"

 

"What do you want?" Steve stepped again to shield Darcy.  

 

"I want her," Loki grinned at Steve, his eyes lighting up in delight.  "Would you be so kind as to give her to me?  It feels quite pleasant whatever she is doing...I can only imagine that hands on, she would feel even better."

 

'Steve, no,' Darcy whispered, getting the rough idea of what he wanted to do before he did it a split second later.

 

Steve kicked on the rim of the previously useless tin shield, and it ricocheted upwards, landing in his hands.  He wasted no time in flinging it, hitting Loki directly in his gut and sending him flying backwards against the stone wall opposite the little crawl space they had vacated.  He crumpled to the floor in a heap, one small whimper echoing from his lips.

 

"You'll respect this woman, or I'll beat the sentiment into you," Steve warned, his voice a low, dangerous thing.

 

"Woman?  She's but a child," Loki laughed breathlessly as he struggled to stand.  "Have no fear, you ridiculous American fool, I will help her along the pathway to womanhood if you would be so kind as to stand down."

 

In all of Steve's calculations and mental drills about how to take Loki down, he hadn't expected a gun to be pulled from the man's breast pocket.  Darcy's scream was loud in his ear, louder than the shot from the gun.  It was the loudest thing he had ever heard and he realized because she was screaming out loud and in his head, and with her it was far too many past lives screaming as well.

 

The bullet lodged near his collarbone and he crumpled from the sudden, completely foreign pain.  His life didn't revolve around guns and bullets and mortal wounds.  His life revolved around Darcy.  And Bucky, and the rest of this friends.  His life revolved around making sure he and Darcy could skim all the best flavors out of their friends' ice cream samplers and summer time camping by a ridiculously small lake in a ridiculously small pup tent.  

 

He fell to his knees in the shock of it.  The pain was an intense thing, but he could also feel something slipping and realized that Loki, either in masterful aim or idiotic chance, had managed to do damage to an artery.  Steve swayed on his knees and saw his vision go dimmer.

 

But worse than all of that, worse than the idea that he'd been too stupid and too wreckless in his decision to send the shield flying at Loki instead of keeping it to shield himself and Darcy, was the fact that Darcy's screams stopped.  She fell to her knees too, and was swaying as if she had been shot and was rapidly bleeding out.

 

"Come along little one," Loki said, his voice wavering just a bit at the sight of all that blood pouring from the behemoth who still tried to grasp onto the girl.  She was a sight, half unconscious already, looking like death warmed over suddenly.  "You're coming with me now."

 

' _Steve...Steven?_ '

 

"Sparky?" Steve whispered out loud in response to her voice in his head.

 

' _Steven, I think, I think I'm dying...Steven...Steven?  What's...what's going on?_ '

 

* * *

 

"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!"

 

The shout, coming from anyone else, would have been ignored.  The crew of high school seniors had heard each other using those exact words ever since Darcy had introduced them into their collective lexicon over Kindergarten snack time when she'd discovered that Rollins had eaten her oreo cookies.  But this was coming from Cameron.

 

Natasha stiffened and ran for him, followed closely by Bucky.  She put gentle hands on Cameron's shaking shoulders and forced him to look at her.

 

"What did you see?"

 

"One---duck,  two, jump," Cameron gasped out, his eyes spilling tears.

 

"Uhm.  Three...quack?" Bucky asked hopefully, wondering if this wasn't some kind of silly word game.  He'd seen the hilarious prophetic limericks, he knew Cameron's soothsaying wasn't like in the movies.

 

The sound and the force of thunder shook the building, immediately.  Bucky had the presence of mind to push Natasha onto Cameron's lap and then cover the both of them, his left arm going up as the sky light window to the room burst into smithereens.  He saw out of the corner of his eye, Scott shrinking once again and diving into the folds of Helen's pants, who had been lifted off the floor by Sam as he flew them to the safest corner of the room with impressive speed.  Tony dove behind the pile of metal and circuitry he had been working with.  Jane grabbed Clint and they blipped out of the room completely, missing Thor's impressive landing in the middle of the room.

 

The regal and imposing looking Asgardian knelt against the floor heedless of the shattered glass, a large, ancient looking hammer in his right fist.  He flipped long blond hair out of his face and looked around curiously.

 

"I have bad news...my brother---"

 

"Is totally downstairs, dude!" Cameron called out from underneath the pile of Natasha and Bucky.  "Straight down!  HURRY!"

 

Jane blipped back in with just enough time to see Thor bring the hammer up high, tossing it effortlessly for show as he sent a sinful looking smirk her way.

 

"Hubba hubba," Clint winked at Thor and shot one finger gun his way.  

 

"Dude.  We talked about this," Jane hissed at Clint, never once taking her eyes off of Thor as he brought the hammer down hard against the floor, breaking a hole right through.  The sound of breaking stone echoed and rattled throughout the castle, indicating that he went through not only one floor, but many floors.  

 

"What?  He's hot as shit, and I am comfortable enough in my masculinity to admit that if he wanted to?  I'd let him hit up all this," Clint waved his hand in front of his body.  He gave Jane a gentle smile and shrugged, "Janie, it'd be an honor, really."

 

"JUMP!" Cameron yelled from under his own pile of hotties.  He pushed on Natasha and winced when he got an inadvertent hand full of Mother Russia's glory.  They got with the program though, and Bucky was off like a rocket down the hole that Thor had created, closely followed by Natasha as she elegantly jumped down, looking as calm as if she had just jumped off a curb.  Cameron gulped and looked at the hand that had grabbed Natasha's chest and marveled that it looked the same.  He shook himself out of it and called out,  "Helen!"

 

"She's not jumping down five stories," Sam huffed out, gripping her tighter and flying down the hole in chase of Bucky and Natasha.

 

"I want to fight things and people," Tony pouted.  He looked down at the robotics he had used to protect himself and held out his hands.  "C'mon bits and bobs, let's figure this out..."

 

"Blip me down, Janie," Clint winked as Tony's robotics began assembling around his hands, rearranging so that they had two little repulsion systems in his palms that would allow him to slowly descend down the hole.  

Cameron was left alone and he looked around before closing his eyes and looking, searching for the right blindy bag to open.  Hoping he had done enough, quickly enough.

  
"Oh, good, porn bag," Cameron sighed and opened his eyes to look up at the heavens.  "Well, looks like they'll turn out alright.  Thanks for the free skinemax, oh great play-doh spaghetti machine in the sky."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we're okay. I mean---I could have ended it at a bad spot, but this seems okay, right? 
> 
> See you next week! BROTHER REUNION AND A TRAITOR AMONGST THE ASGARDIANS! YAY!


	21. Any Tom, Dick or Darcy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am happy to report that the muse keeps chugging along on this one. I've rediscovered how fun this is to write! And that's thanks to all of you lovely people, so thank you!
> 
> Action ahoy!!!!

**Chapter Twenty-One: Any Tom, Dick or Darcy**

 

* * *

 

Mjolnir remembered.

 

She remembered the joy she had felt ages ago.  The violent crunch of her hardened exterior against stone or even more delightful---bones.  The electric current thrilling down rough wood while being touched by an even rougher human hand.  She was a righteous weapon and she could only be touched by the most worthy of humans and she reveled in that distinction.  The punishments she doled out had been earned and she took satisfaction and joy in being the one to gift the punishments.

 

Mjolnir had waited so many centuries to be held like this once more.  She'd waited so long to thrill in that violence and destruction and mayhem and righteous fury.

 

She'd been lost throughout the time she had lay unused and forgotten.  

 

But Mjolnir would never forget when that fist grasped her handle and she felt the weightlessness of being in the grip of the worthy.  She connected with the summoned lightning and swung, rushing into the ether in order to meet that element she loved so dearly.

 

The lightning would never forget her and their reunion as it connected with her metal surface was enough to sustain them both for another few centuries.  But it would not have to be so.

 

She was in the hands of the worthy, and he was young and protected and well loved.  She would be in his hands for very far into the future.  And she would never have to bid goodbye to the lightning again.

 

The flight had been quick, if not a little bumpy from her resting place to the Royal Palace of Asgard.  The youth that wielded her was unsure on how to use her properly, but she felt he would learn quick.  And if he had lost his grip and fallen to the ground just the once, it would remain a secret between the two of them.  The first strike had been glass and the disappointment grew for Mjolnir, for the only thing surrounding Thor in that room was adoration, lust and love.

 

The hammer craved violence after so very long and she knew she would never be lifted against any in the room.  Not even the little stranger.

 

She hummed with acknowledgement and realized there was another worthy in the room but before she could grasp onto their identity she felt the thrilling jolt against stone and forced herself through floor after floor, rushing into a long forgotten room.

 

Familiarity rushed into the hammer's unlimited consciousness and she roared out in remembrance and joy, the lightning above answering her in agreement.  

 

There were even more hammer bearers before her. 

 

After so long, it felt like greed knowing so many were capable of lifting her now.

 

But the states of the newly born old souls gave her pause.  They would need healing or they'd certainly have to wait until the next visit to life in order to wield her.

 

* * *

 

"Loki!" Thor growled out, swinging his newly found weapon, his birthright, and what should have been the birthright of so many of his ancestors that had been found lacking.  Thor's eyes widened when the rubble and the dust cleared from his vision, able to see the scene for the first time.

 

Steve was on his knees, his hands gripping a mortal wound near to his neck.  And Darcy looked near to death as well, although no injury could be seen on the little, distant relative of Thor's.  But she was in Loki's grasp, her limp and near lifeless body clutched in his arms.  

 

"What has happened to you, Steven?" Thor demanded, holding the hammer at the ready, prepared to defend his dear friends.  

 

Steve managed to point a finger at Loki.

 

Thor looked at Loki in disbelief.

 

"What have you done?" he demanded, unable to reason such a scene with his brother.

 

His brother who had always been acerbically playful with him, teasing but in an affectionate, brotherly way.  When it was decided that Thor and Loki would attend different schools in different countries, a rift had formed, though Thor would never understand why.  His brother, his closest confidante and friend, the young man who had helped him build castles in the sky about what they would do when Asgard fell to them, started to look at Thor with thinly veiled animosity.

 

The animosity was not even thinly veiled now.  Loki was practically snarling at Thor as he shook the limp body of Darcy as if she were a ragdoll.  

 

And then he pointed the gun at Thor with a visibly shaking hand.

 

"My brother, you have done this to my friend?" Thor demanded, shaking his head slowly in desperate denial.  

 

His brother was not like this, not the brother he had grown up with.

 

Something or someone at that Academy of his had changed him.

 

Loki didn't get a chance to answer, thanks to a large body mass landing in front of Thor with a loud and none too graceful boom.  The gun went off and Bucky held up his left arm, deflecting the bullet towards an unoccupied corner of the room.   His eyes darted to the state of Darcy and Steve and his entire countenance went blank with rage.

 

Natasha landed gracefully and nearly silently behind Loki.  She gave the smallest flinch and looked to her left shoulder before turning back to Bucky and giving him a nod.  Bucky let out a battle cry and rushed forward just as Natasha reached out and forced Loki's gun arm up to the ceiling.  The gun went off again and Sam could be heard cursing in annoyance.  The gun didn't get the chance to go off again, because in a blink of an eye and with a rush of air, Jane Foster was standing uncomfortably close to Loki, with Clint gripping her shirt.  

 

"Ew," Clint grumbled, before reaching up and gripping the gun, wrestling it from Loki's grasp.  

 

As soon as he had a hold on it, Jane blipped out again, with Clint and the gun in tow.   

 

Natasha took the opportunity to bend Loki's arm at an unnatural angle, before she and Bucky did a sort of elegant turn around the enemy.  Bucky's left hand found a nice hold on Loki's neck while Natasha spun with his arm.  Between the two of them going in completely opposite directions with an inhuman amount of strength, Loki quickly dropped Darcy.

 

"Now Lang!" Bucky shouted.

 

"Wilson!" Natasha called out at the same time.

 

If Loki hadn't of been in such horrendous pain suddenly, he might have glimpsed Scott Lang, the criminal they had hired to return with the Titan's Serum, appear from nowhere  (or very quickly grown from a miniscule being into a normal sized one), to be standing next to Natalia with a vacuous smile on his face.

 

"Yoink!" Scott called out gaily, grabbing Darcy before she could fall and rushing away with her, back to Steve.  He looked up and saw Sam landing delicately with Helen now that Natasha had given the all clear for the gunfire.  "Fly Guy, bring Doc Mc Glows a Lot over here, I'm---I've only seen it once...on DVD, but I think Steve is bleeding out."

 

"I have a name.  We both have names, dude," Sam grumbled, letting Helen down quickly anyway, watching as she rushed to where Scott had gently put Darcy down on the ground next to Steve, who was now face down in a heap.  Sam looked back to the sounds of scuffling to see that Natasha and Bucky were angrily punishing whoever had dared to do this while Thor looked on in confusion.  Tony was approaching slowly from above, his makeshift repulsors on his hands having gotten machinery upgrades on the way down through the floors of the castle.  

 

Jane and Clint blipped back, and Clint had an arrow notched and ready to fly.

 

"Gimme a shot, Nat," Clint asked.  "Please?"

 

"Stop this," Thor shook his head, looking down at the hammer in his hand.

 

"Jesus, he healed a broken nose in less than half a minute before," Helen said breathlessly, her hands shaking as they were coated in Steve's blood as they began to glow a light blue.  "What'd  greasy bad hair dude do to get this kind of damage?"

 

"Hurry," Darcy whispered, coughing in sync with Steve as he brought up blood.

 

Helen nodded and concentrated as hard as she dared, realizing quickly that Steve couldn't heal and she couldn't heal him because the bullet was still in there.  She grimaced and looked to Sam and Scott.  She turned to Tony and waved him over.

 

"Hold him down!" she ordered.

 

"Hold him down?" Tony repeated incredulously.  "The guy's gonna kick the bucket and Darcy's gonna follow.  Why can't you guys listen to instructions?!  Cameron told you before, if ----"

 

"Just do it!" Helen screamed.

 

Tony wrinkled his nose at being screamed at.  He didn't think that had ever happened before, not really.  He landed and between he, Scott and Sam, they turned Steve over onto his back and held the lifeless man down.  Helen clenched her fingers in her right hand before nodding to herself and giving Steve an apologetic look before a cold, determined look came on her face and she dug right into his shoulder.

 

Steve didn't shout, but his body kicked in with immediate adrenaline at the painful ministrations and he struggled weakly against the hold on him.  Unfortunately, he had the strength of ten of Sam, even when he was so injured, and Scott was the first to be dislodged by a swift kick to the throat.

 

"Ow, rude," Scott grumbled as he tried to scramble to get back and hold down Steve's legs.

 

"Give me the girl!" Loki shouted maniacally before screaming in pain.

 

Thor felt a shiver go through him.  He'd never heard Loki sounding like that.  Desperate, shrill, EVIL.  A small warmth went up the length of Thor's arm, seeming to originate from the ancient Mjolnir.  The hammer felt like she was trying to tell him his feelings and suspicions were right.

 

"STOP!" Thor shouted.

 

Everyone heeded the order, except for Helen, who removed her hand and let the metallic clink of the truly heinous bullet falling to the floor echo throughout the room.  She went immediately to work, and between her power to heal and Steve's power to regenerate so quickly, he was taking large, healthy gasps of air within ten seconds.

 

"Stop?" Darcy called out from where Scott had carefully laid her, Jane fretting next to her.  "STOP?!?"

 

"Darcy-loo, lie down," Jane ordered.

 

"STOP WHAT?" Darcy scampered to her feet and approached Thor, who had taken a few steps closer to Natasha and Bucky to forcibly pull them away from Loki.  

 

Thor stared down at Darcy in confusion, then quickly glanced back to Loki, who looked deranged and out of his head, a grin on his face as he strained against the hold Bucky and Natasha had on him.  

 

"He is not within his right mind," Thor said softly to Darcy.

 

"He nearly killed us!" Darcy shouted and the power in her voice was enough to make even Loki flinch.  She wasn't just shouting with her own shrill voice.  She was shouting with numerous voices of the past.  "He nearly ended it all before we could even TRY again!"

 

"I am so sorry," Thor said earnestly, looking down at Darcy with the look of an apologetic puppy.  "He's my brother and he would never do this---"

 

"Funny, cause I saw him do it," Darcy hissed, her eyes flashing bright, electric blue.

 

"Sparky," Steve shrugged off Sam and Tony with his full strength before pulling himself up to his feet. "M'okay..."

 

"I cannot allow you to hurt my brother," Thor looked down at the hammer and something like a cold dread went over his entire body.

 

It was a warning that he was making a mistake, Thor knew too late as Darcy, who had never excelled at feats of strength, who had never taken her physical training seriously, who had avoided all confrontation since she was a child, pushed her fingers on her left hand into a fist and brought it up straight into Thor's gut.

 

Bucky staggered, stepping backwards from his task at hand, looking as if he were about to faint.  Clint covered for him, taking three leaps forward and bringing his arrow to lay against Loki's throat.  Bucky took a deep breath and looked at Darcy, whose eyes were still that unnatural blue.  She hadn't stopped with the fist to Thor's gut.  

 

The right handed girl led with her south paw and had landed five quick strikes, working up from Thor's stomach up to his chest until finally she smacked her left fist against his jaw in a circular strike that led to a cracking sound to accompany the thunder that rolled, for when her skin touched his, lightning appeared from the hole in the ceiling, coming down and connecting with Thor just as Darcy's fist did.

 

Thor went flying from the force of the blow, his hammer clattering to the ground as he nearly put a complete hole in the foundation of the palace.   He rolled to the ground in a heap, revealing a Thor shaped indentation in the stone.   

 

Darcy wasn't done though, and she gripped the hammer's handle, lifting it up effortlessly and stalking towards Thor.

 

"What?" Loki whispered, his throat scratching slightly against the harsh and pointed tip of Clint's arrow.  "NO!"

 

"Darcy, don't," Bucky panicked, feeling a little life come back in him as he took one clumsy step forward and gulped when Darcy, blind with rage and anger and probably actually blind thanks to whatever freakish thing was going on with her eyes, brought the hammer up and ready to bring down on Bucky somehow, thunder rolling again.

 

"What is going on here?!?"  

 

The King of Asgard stalked in, looking like an eye patch wearing regal unwanted distraction.  Darcy pointed the hammer his way instead, and Odin was struck, flying backwards and out of the room again.  

 

Cameron was breathless on the King's heels.

 

"Shit," he gasped out.  "Shit, I wanted to stop her from doing that."

 

"Cam?" Natasha asked.

 

"STOP HER, STEVE," Cameron ordered desperately.

 

Steve nodded stupidly, having been awestruck and rooted to his spot as he watched the girl he loved manhandle and take out someone nearly double her size.  He rushed forward and grappled for the hammer in Darcy's hands, allowing Bucky to duck out of the way.  It looked like it was going to be a real power struggle, and although it seemed unthinkable for Steve to lift a hand against Darcy, this clearly wasn't JUST Darcy they were dealing with.  

 

And then Steve tickled her.

 

It was a spot that only he and Bucky knew, and had been sworn to secrecy.  The base of her neck behind her left ear, just a quick tickle of his fingers and Darcy's body betrayed her agenda, doubling over with unwanted laughter and causing her fingers to loosen their grip on the hammer just enough so that he could ease it out of her grasp.

 

"Love you Sparky," he promised before gently pushing her away and holding the hammer up as the thunder and lightning began going a little haywire in all the excitement.

 

"Honestly?!" Loki called out in annoyance to the heavens.  "Next thing the tiny thief will be worthy you whorish hammer! Would any of these American idiots be able to hoist you in their disgusting, filthy paws?"

 

Steve didn't mean to have the lightning spark off the hammer and hit Loki, it seemed to be doing it of its own volition.  But it did and Loki's shouted insults against the hammer ceased as he fell unconscious.

 

"Okay---three unconscious Asgardian royalty types," Clint sighed, putting the arrow down finally.  "Who is going to explain this to the Queen---wooah, Darce, what're you---woah..."

 

"SHIT!" Cameron wheezed from the doorway, still out of breath from his mad dash downstairs.  He trembled as a newly realized vision shook him from head to toe.  "She's pissed dude, and she's gonna pound us all---"

 

"And I'd like to remind you that---that," Scott rolled around on the floor, still in pain from Steve's foot to his throat.  "Not all of us heal as quick as you, you virgin asshole!"

 

"Sweetheart---" Steve held up his hands as Darcy---but not just Darcy advanced upon him with an angry, put upon pout.  He looked around and noticed that every single one of his friends were slowly slumping as Darcy's eyes got more intensely blue.  "Sparky, please, calm down."

 

"How am I supposed to keep you alive when you don't let me do what it takes to do it?!" Darcy demanded irately.

 

"Uhm---" Steve shrugged.  "No harm done, I'm fine now, see?"

 

He spun the hammer for effect, which only made Darcy jump for him, leaping far and gracefully, looking very much like Natasha as she did it, making a grab for the hammer.  Steve went down like a stack of bricks rather than hurt her and he tried to keep the hammer from her while simultaneously trying to get to that ticklish spot again to stop her in her tracks.

 

"Oh my god, Steve has a huge boner right now," Tony announced, and while he would have been gleeful usually, right then he felt like he could use a nap.

 

"Sparks, stop it!" Bucky whined weakly. "Keep it like one of those Bollywood movies Barton likes so much, no bad touch."

 

Steve rolled his eyes and put the hammer just a fingertip out of Darcy's reach before reaching around her waist and lifting her up and off of him bodily.  He looked behind Darcy and asked, "You ready?"

 

"What?" Darcy demanded hotly.

 

"Go for it dude!" Jane called out.

 

Steve threw Darcy up in the air from the ground, and she flew up a good four feet vertically.  Before she could reach the apex and fall back down, Jane reached out and grabbed a handful of the back of Darcy's shirt and they blipped out of the room entirely.

 

Almost immediately, all of the energy came back in the room, with even Thor rolling over and onto his back, blinking up at the sky in wonder.  Steve got to his feet and picked up the hammer, walking it over to Thor and handing it over.

 

"Thank you," Thor nodded humbly, staring down at Mjolnir in curiosity.  He knew what was written there.   _ Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power... _

 

Jane blipped back in and took a deep, shaky breath before shrugging his shoulders at Steve.

 

"I put her in Fort Knox," Jane explained.  "And you can't make me go back and get her.  She's not drunk with power anymore, but she is PISSED, and I'm not getting another purple nurple from her again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somethings will have to be explained by an exposition fairie, I think. 
> 
> And also---there is still that issue of a traitor in Asgard....we'll see what happens next time!
> 
> (Who do you think in the group can lift the hammer???)


	22. The Missing Spark/The Missing Plugs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of really excited about the next few chapters guys. 
> 
> SUPER excited.

**Chapter Twenty-Two: The Missing Spark/The Missing Plugs**

* * *

 

"Jane.  Please.  Please Jane?  Jane...you hafta---I mean, I'll give you my entire box of space rocks.  Jane.  I'm beggin', you gotta go and get her."

 

"YOUR entire box of space rocks?" Bucky asked dubiously, tearing his eyes away from watching Natasha expertly tie up Loki (and what kind of name was Loki, anyway?  These Asgardians were weird).  Thor's brother was looking like a chicken ready to be stuffed in the oven, but even Bucky's preoccupation with watching Natasha be awesome couldn't stop him from hearing Steve offer Jane a box of space rocks that definitely didn't belong entirely to Steve.

 

The begging had gone on for the last five minutes.  Bucky was plenty concerned about Darcy, to be sure.  He didn't like having her so far away on another continent.  But really, he was also worried about her being right there with them when she was so piping hot mad.  She had sapped his entire energy reserve away in the blink of an eye and had been ready to bash his brains in.  She'd sapped all of their energy except for Steve's.

 

It was a terrifying feeling to suddenly feel like your strings had been cut.  To be able to see with your own two eyes your most trusted friend doing what you're able to do while you sat there a useless mass inside of the shell of your own body.  And Darcy had never been the kind to take back gifts before.  Steve had always been the one to get a fella a box of candy for his birthday and then give puppy dog eyes until the candy was shared with he and Darcy.  But Darcy had definitely been able to take back her gifts there.

 

"She okay?" Bucky looked next to him, where Cameron was standing.  

 

The smaller young man squinted as he went through the little surprise bags of visions in his head, all the ones that he hadn't opened yet that had already come to pass, little bursts of visions of Darcy in the last five minutes.

 

"She's good," Cameron answered.  "Inventing new curse words.  Trying to stay away from shiny things that might fit in her pocket---wait no, she grabbed a bar of something that might come in handy someday.  And she just called Jane a no good fuck stick that she's gonna poison and leave to rot in the middle of an ocean in outerspace."

 

"Rude," Jane sighed, looking a little worried.  She smiled softly when Thor wrapped an arm around her in consolation.  "She's gonna manage to do it too, she knows I can't say no to those damned truffle things she makes out of oreos.  she's gonna poison me with my favorite treat and it's all very Shakespearean and I'd like to remind everyone that I hate Shakespeare."

 

"JAAAAANE," Steve whined.  "Go and get her and bring her back."

 

"Steve, she's DANGEROUS right now," Sam said calmly and reasonably.  "She's being possessed by whatever past live soul voodoo you guys have going on, and she's upset with all of us.  She needs time to cool down so that she doesn't kill us all."

 

"She wouldn't do that," Tony reasoned, giving Sam the stinkeye.

 

"Because you know so much about her," Sam rolled his eyes.

 

"Oh please forgive the fact that I haven't had sleepover parties and hair braiding competitions since I was in diapers with you all, but yeah, I do know she wouldn't kill any one of us," Tony shrugged.  "Because you know, if one of us bites it, then Darcy dies too.  Put aside the fact that she's devoted to each and every one of you like your own personal fairy godmother.  Why would she do that to herself?"

 

"Wait-what?" Bucky looked to Steve in confusion.  He shrugged and they both looked to Tony for answers.  When Tony pointed to Cameron in deference, every eye in the room turned to the quiet wallflower turned soothsayer.

 

"Uhm---I was like, totally straight jacket crazy like, just a little bit ago," Cameron deflected.  "I think I also prophesized that noodles would go extinct, soooo."

 

"He prophesized that if you die you take the spark with you," Tony reminded everyone in annoyance.  He heaved a put upon sigh and explained in his most condescending tone, "she gave us this shit.  These gifts, this power.  That came from her.  Not from the solstice like the adults believed.  She's connected to us all now.  Which explains why she could take powers back and use them for herself."

 

"Well then why doesn't she blip herself back?" Jane demanded.

 

"Proximity?  She's too far away to manage it?" Helen suggested.

 

"And now we're all tied together by more than just ice cream parties and a mutual hatred for my dad," Tony said glibly.  "If your strings get cut, HER strings get cut."

 

"What?" Steve breathed out.  

 

"If anyone here dies, or is in mortal peril," Thor said quietly, staring down at his unconscious brother with very deep concern, "Darcy will very well perish alongside them."

 

"Which, you know, sucks for you dude," Tony said to Steve.  "Because I mean, if we lose Scott to a tragic thieving and lameness incident, then poof, there goes your girl."

 

"Fuck off dude," Scott smacked Tony on the back of the head before shrinking and making a quick escape.

 

"Can you please go and get her back, please Jane?" Steve whispered, the bottom of his stomach dropping out at this information.  "Or just take me to her, please?"

 

"Oh, sure, cause that's a GREAT idea," Bucky criticized, his own face pale at Tony's interpretation of Cameron's prophecy.  "Let's put the two of you troublemakers in a vault in Fort Knox and see how fast all of us are wanted criminals."

 

"Wait!" Cameron held up a hand like he was asking a question in class.  His body shook and he felt like he was about to lose his center of gravity when he found a strong arm wrapped around him and he fell into it as he let the vision play in his brain.  "No need to get her, she's figured it out on her own.  Uhm, Jane, step away from the hammer."

 

"Okay," Jane nodded, knowing well enough to listen to Cameron at this point.  She was a smart cookie after all.  

 

Mjolnir had been placed reverently at Thor's feet after Jane returned, and suddenly began to jostle under her own power.  She began levitating off the ground, inches at first and then feet.  Her flight path paused in Thor's astonished face, as if wordlessly promising that she would be back before she took off at an inhuman pace, nearly breaking the sound barrier as she flew up out of the hole that Thor had created into the sky.

 

"Uh oh," Clint intoned, although his face was gleeful.  This whole situation promised for a lot of interesting stories to tell someday.  He looked back to Odin, who was drooling on the floor still and then back to Thor, "Can I tie up your dad?  You know, since you let Tash tie up your bro?"

 

"You good?" a low, husky sound echoed in Cameron's ear as everyone started talking at once around them.

 

Cameron blinked, realizing that the only reason he was upright and not on his ass on the ground was because Bucky had caught him and held him up in what looked like a tender embrace.  Cameron swallowed and his eyes darted around the room, but Natasha was already at his other side, looking down at him in truly warm, soft concern.

 

"Huh?" the smaller teenager eloquently managed to get out of his mouth, his head swiveling comically between Bucky and Natasha.  His eyes fell for one brief millisecond to Natasha's chest and his breath hitched.

 

"Yeah, first time I went there I had the after effects too," Bucky's smirk could be heard in his scratchy whisper.  

 

"I didn't---it was an accident," Cameron stammered quietly.

 

"She didn't seem to mind, because if she had, believe me, you'd know," Bucky assured him.  He looked down to where Cameron was clinging onto him and smirked at the hand on his pecs.  "You sly dog, you."

 

"I didn't mean to," Cameron stammered, straightening himself up and taking a step away from Bucky straight into Natasha.  He jumped as he felt her hand graze his backside and his face went nearly purple. "Oh shiznits and crackers."

 

Natasha couldn't help but let out an aborted chuckling sound at that.

 

"Stop teasing, Red," Bucky admonished her.

 

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Cameron's mouth was gaping open, his face purple and when Bucky took one step forward, he realized he was sandwiched between the two most attractive people in the universe.  "We're gonna meet back up with Darcy on a farm somewhere."

 

"Huh?" Clint popped his head up and over Bucky's shoulder.  He had been shamelessly spying on the moment, wishing like hell he had popcorn.  "Farm you say?"

 

"Didn't look like Asgard," Cameron admitted.  He pointed to Thor, "She hands you the hammer, and then---"

 

He made a nearly silent choking sound when Natasha put a soft, petting hand on his shoulder.  "Uhm, she and Steve make out.  Violently."

 

"Awesome," Clint's eyes lit up.  "And where are you in the equation?"

 

"Busy," Cameron blurted.  "Uh---we should probably start to try and find Darcy, maybe?"

 

"I like that idea," Steve agreed.  "It's a great idea.  Come on, let's go.  How do we---where do we---shit."

 

The teenagers looked around at each other in silence, each of them trying to come up with a plan, no one knowing where to start.  They were nearly the same merry band of people who had come up with an elaborate heist in New York City.  They were nearly the same pack of hoodlums who had managed to win the free bucket of ice cream every day of summer contest at the local ice cream shop ten years running.  They were nearly the same pack of hoodlums who had managed to fill the school's swimming pool with the plastic balls one would usually find in a ball pit.  

 

It had been an epic amount of balls.

 

They had JUST done something amazing together.  And yet now they couldn't even figure out what to do next.

 

"I can build a giant super fast plane!" Tony shouted.

 

That caused everyone else to voice their protests.  So far Tony had been great at building little things of amusement with his powers, but not one person would feel comfortable stepping onto a superfast plane of his creation.  Everyone tried to shout over one another and started to put in their own ideas.  ' _I can blip us in pieces over but I think I might die_ ', _'I'm not flying over the fucking Atlantic with all of you strapped to me in modified baby bjorns_!', and ' _I think I could steal a plane.  Yeah.  if Nat and Barnes help me, I can totally jack a plane'_ were just some of the highlights.

 

"My father will provide us with transportation, surely his pilot Heimdall will be available," Thor nodded, his voice a little louder than the rest, booming and attention grabbing.  

 

"Uh, problem," Scott grinned turning his head to the right where Odin was twitching, moaning and groaning as he surfaced to wakefulness.  "Daddy's awake and he's probably gonna be pissed.  I mean, I'd be pissed if I woke up to the smell of my face pubes being singed with lightning."

 

There was silence and trepidation in the room once again.

 

Scott shrugged and nodded, "I mean, yeah.  Who wouldn't be a little upset?"

 

"Hello down there!" a cheerful bellow came from above.

 

Everyone looked up as one unit to see Volstagg smiling down at them cheerfully.  

 

"I like this hole, it's most convenient," Volstagg marvelled.

 

"We need to assist my father," Thor sighed, looking back at the man who would no doubt be plenty upset when he finally woke.

 

"About that," Volstagg said warily.  "There is something you should know, my friend.  Regarding your father."

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy knew she had to get out of the damned vault that Jane had heartlessly and shamelessly ditched her in.  Sure, it was a smart idea.  Once Jane had done the same for her before the start of school, when Thor and his indistinguishable age had managed to score them a whole two cases of fruity flavored wine coolers.  Darcy had REALLY loved the lemonade flavored ones.  They'd tasted like sunshine and after one and a half she'd been red in the face despite the cool night air.  

 

She'd gotten her first taste of dutch courage and she'd declared foolishly to Jane and Natasha that she was

 

'Gonna go tackle Steven to the ground and lick his face all over like a sexy cat lady---or no---wait, I'm not a cat lady.  I'm just gonna smash our parts together and tell him I love him and then we're gonna put his thing in my thing and woohoo party times---"

 

She hadn't been able to go into greater detail.  Natasha had been highly amused and encouraging of Darcy's antics.  Luckily she had had Jane there to save her from eternal embarrassment.  

  
  


The delicate brunette had shown surprising force, clapping a hand over Darcy's mouth to stop her protests, and then sat her whole body on top of her until Darcy passed out from her punch drunkenness.  

 

But abandoning her in a highly secure vault?  Darcy had no idea where she was, but she could FEEL the distance from her people.  She could feel the distance from Steve.  And that terrifying realization that they were probably halfway around the globe had an interesting effect on the old soul and past life that had been trying to hijack her actions back in Asgard and beat everyone to a pulp.  

 

It had immediately shut that harpy shrieking annoying pain in the ass up.  

 

She felt a tingling go up and down her arm.  It was warm and electric and entirely welcome.  She didn't know that hammer's rightful name.  Thor had said it once or twice or a couple hundred times in his happy story telling of his homeland, but Darcy had never quite managed to get it right.  

 

But she knew for sure that Meuh Mueh was on the way.

 

"Shit, I gotta get out of here before she explodes the entire place," Darcy sighed.  

 

She began walking for the vault door, not before stepping backwards two paces and plucking a golden bar off of the shelf and slipping it into her pocket with a shrug.

 

"They won't notice just ONE missing," she muttered to herself.  

 

She ambled to the door and held up her hand, wondering if she should try and knock on the vault.  How in the world would she explain herself?  Hey, I'm a normal teenage girl and I evaded all of your security and here I am.

 

But she couldn't just stay standing there.  Eventually Meow Meow would be rushing to her and she was pretty sure the awesome hammer would treat the walls of the vault like wet tissue paper.

 

Her brain kept throwing different scenarios at her and they were coming too fast and loud for anything to really get through the way it needed to.  

 

"Ugh, headache," Darcy groaned, holding her hand to her temple.  Her brain was never this noisy when she was surrounded by her friends.  There was too much to choose from, too many tangents and what if's she could think about and try to solve on her own.  She  squinted in annoyance at the large vault door and was about to attempt to just knock when it began to whizz and hiss open.  "Shit."

 

She tried to get her brain to think of only one thing, but she couldn't and soon she was facing the barrel of several guns and a lot of shouting to  _ STAND DOWN.  ON THE GROUND _ .  

 

And really, what kind of a phrase was  _ STAND DOWN _ .  Like, which one did they really want her to do?  Stand or get down?

 

She put her hands up and looked at the dozen men in tactical gear that were swarming the entrance.  Her eyes darted to the nearest corner of the room and of course there was surveillance there.  Natasha would have taken care of that as soon as possible, but Darcy hadn't thought of that, her first instinct had been something from Clint or Scott's brain, which was to pocket a gold bar.  Which was still in her pocket.  Which was totally a federal offense now that she thought about it.

 

"YOU STAND DOWN!" she shouted all of a sudden. 

 

Her eyes widened in shock when they all did just that.  Every single one of them took a step back from her and their bodies immediately loosened.  Darcy felt her gut twist.  She'd discovered a long time ago that when she said certain things, a certain way, funny things seemed to happen.  At first it had been hilarious, making Bucky dance when she was a child or making Steve finish his vegetables when he didn't want to.

 

Then it had been an invaluable skill when Janie began to do her own brand of experimenting through any and all science she could get her hands on.  She could tell the brilliant child to STOP before she managed to send Clint to the emergency room again, and Jane would just LISTEN.

 

She hadn't tried to do it since that awful time when she was a child.  When she screeched willfully at the man who had tried to hurt her and she'd ordered him to jump off the roof.  And when he TRIED to do what she'd told him to do, and been stopped by his wife...well, Darcy had never had a hand raised against her in her life, but it hadn't made that first time any easier.

 

She'd been called a freak by her own flesh and blood relative.

 

It had been a night filled with fighting and arguing and she'd hated it so much.  She'd hated that when she was full of fury and ready for a fight she could get anyone to do whatever she wanted to do.

 

She'd run away from every confrontation since.

 

But at that moment, she just wanted to avoid getting thrown into the slammer.

 

"Everyone put your guns down on the floor very gently," Darcy demanded authoritatively, only gulping once nervously as the men complied.  She took a deep breath and nodded, "I'm blond, aren't I?"

 

The men nodded in unison.

 

"Male...forties...five foot ten?  That's what I look like, isn't that right?" Darcy coaxed, her voice suddenly surprisingly gentle.

 

"Yes," they answered as one unit.

 

"And you're all going to lay on this floor right now," the commanding voice was back and they all did as she said.  "And you're going to sleep until someone comes and wakes you.  And when you do, you'll remember me, blond and a man and taller.  And I knocked you out with---with---strength and superhuman ability."

 

They were snoring before she could even finish her command.  She sighed and shook her head.  "Shit.  Shit.  Cameras."

 

She bent over and dug into the back pocket of one of the sleeping men who was curled around the legs of another man adorably.  She pulled out his cell phone and sighed with relief when it unlocked right away.  She had five numbers memorized.  Jane's home number (out of the question.  she couldn't explain this to Jane's mom).  Steve's cell (left behind on Titan's serum island).  Bucky's cell (fell out of his pocket when fleeing from Tony's traitor Dad's island).  Natasha's cell (accidentally crushed by Bucky's new super strength).

 

And the Martinville High School attendance hotline (Angie, the office administrator in the high school's office).

 

She'd had a knack for imitating voices when her friends had to play hooky from school.  

 

She dialed it and waited patiently for someone to pick up.  It had to be somewhere around one in the afternoon back home.  

 

"Martinville High School  Attendance hotline, and really, if you're calling out of school for today, you're kind of late," Angie sighed.  

 

"I need to speak to my daughter," Darcy adopted the accent of the wealthy upstate New Yorker that she needed to do.  "Pepper Potts, immediately, please."

 

* * *

 

When Odin wearily blinked his eyes open his body gave a start, and it did not take him very long to realize that he was tied to a chair.  Quite expertly.  Almost severely.

 

"Hello," came a soft feminine voice. The sound of it was like velvet.  Soft and gentle to the touch, with the promise of something sturdier and unyielding behind it.  

 

The room was pitch black, the King of Asgard could not see very much at the moment.  But he could sense someone walking closer to him, standing just out of reach, had he been given any sort of slack in the way in which he was tied to a chair.

 

"Where are your loyalties, King Odin?" the voice asked.

 

"Untie me this instant!" Odin demanded angrily.

 

"We wanted to do this gently, there had been quite an argument on the best way to extract information from you, actually," the voice purred.  "There are those of us that thought torture would work better."

 

"I am tied and bound, in the dark, being threatened, do you know who I am, little girl?" Odin fumed.

 

"Does that actually work?" came a voice from the shadows.  

 

"Aye, more often than not," came another voice, this one familiar.

 

"Loki?" Odin demanded.  "Son, are you here?"

 

"Dude, he was supposed to stay all kinds of unconscious!  What the hell were you thinking?"

 

"Cram it, Lang!  My deal is to heal people, not to keep them comatose!"

 

A physical blow could be heard and a heavy sigh followed it.

 

"My friend, James, did you just physically harm my brother again?"

 

"THOR!" Odin shouted.  "Release me at once!"

 

The light flipped on in the room and Natasha looked up at Thor in annoyance for disrupting her game.  They were in one of the rooms on the main floor, dedicated usually to greeting official and important guests to the kingdom.  Currently it was full of teenagers along the far wall, with Odin sitting in the middle of it, tied and bound.  Natasha was less than two feet from the bound King and had her arms crossed in front of her.

 

Thor spared one apologetic look to Natasha before stalking forward menacingly, staring down at his father in annoyance.

 

"Pray tell me, father, where might my mother be this morning?" Thor wondered.

 

"She had business---elsewhere," Odin answered haughtily.

 

"Lie," Natasha murmured.

 

"You have sent her away," Thor assumed. "We have news that you've done so, sent her away against her will."

 

"You're imagining things, boy," Odin chuckled.  "Your mother is enjoying some time in the North of France."

 

"Lie," Natasha repeated.  Odin glared fiercely at her, to which she merely shrugged.

 

"You sent her away because if she had known that you were bringing Loki home, in the attempt to take my friend against her will, she would have stopped you," Thor reasoned.  "You are loyal to a school you have not attended in decades over your son."

 

"Loki is my son too," Odin muttered, taking his eyes away from his disappointed eldest son.

 

Natasha opened her mouth just barely and spared a look Thor's way.

 

"Lie," she whispered.  

 

Cameron began shaking next to Bucky and readily accepted the support his teammate offered as he went a little boneless.

 

"Fight or flight.  Big Green's a comin.  And he's fucking miserable," Cameron whispered.  

 

"Uhm.  Hell no to the fight of it all," Sam stood up and immediately began hovering. "How the hell did that monster find us?" 

 

Odin began to laugh, shaking his head.  

 

"They'll always be able to find you, no matter how you try to hide.  You are their investment just as Loki is my investment," Odin revealed.  "The Games are so much more important than you would---"

 

Clint leapt forward, using his momentum to knock his fist into Odin's face as forcefully as he possibly could.  His grin was lopsided when he turned to everyone else and he shrugged at their astonished expressions.  

 

"What?" he shrugged.  "Bucky gets to punch royalty and I don't?  Rude.  Stop judging me with your judgey faces and let's talk exit strategies people.  We don't have Darcy here to boss us, so we really need to figure something else out.  Like---now, because I’m pretty sure that plane is gonna land soon, and I'm pretty sure that big green thing is coming and he's probably bringing Fury along for the ride."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up! The support team steps up to the plate and the escape from Asgard!


	23. Escape from Asgard Asshole Island...and you know Fort Knox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love writing this story and I'm so thankful that there are people out here reading it!

 

**Chapter Twenty-Three:  Escape from Asgard Asshole Island...and you know Fort Knox.**

 

* * *

 

 

"Hiya, pal.  I like your cool gold---accoutrements.  They like, totally match your eyeballs."

 

Bucky slapped his forehead in the corridor where he, Cameron and Scott were hiding.  He grimaced and looked down at Cameron expectantly.  The smaller man shrugged and held up his hands helplessly as Clint continued to try and to get their transportation settled with the man that Thor called Heimdall.  He was a beast of a man, the very definition of tall, dark and handsome.  And Clint was right, he had quite a few pieces of gold on his person.  And they totally matched the beautiful golden eyes that stood out in contrast with his dark skin.  

 

Bucky, Cameron and Scott, sexuality be damned, could all admit that the man who helmed transportation for the Asgardian kingdom was one helluva looker.  But perhaps the human trash fire eighteen year old that was Clint Barton, currently trying to flirt with him wasn't their best option in getting the keys from Heimdall.  But Cameron's vision said that was what had to happen, so that's what was currently happening.

 

Natasha and Steve had taken the rest of the team, including a tied up Loki, to the plane in question, where they were providing cover for Jane and Tony to work their magic, hopefully making the plane ridiculously fast so they could get to where they needed to go faster.

 

"Shoulda sent Nat," Bucky sighed.

 

"No, it was Clint in the vision," Cameron reiterated forcefully.  When Bucky's eyebrows flew up into his hairline, a glint of pride in his eyes at Cameron's continued insistence despite the naysayers, Cameron wrinkled his nose and looked like his skin itched in pleasant discomfort.  

 

"I'm with Stark, I totally don't get any of your dynamics," Scott sighed as he looked at Cameron and Bucky interacting.  

 

"That's so funny!  I've always wanted to go vacationing on a boat!" Clint laughed uproariously.  "And you were on the boat with Odin for how long?"

 

"Four weeks," Heimdall answered, his voice deep and booming and not seeming the least bit amused.  

 

"Yikes, I'd have probably tried to jump into the ocean," Clint admitted honestly, perhaps a little too honestly.  He tensed up, wondering if insulting the king was something that the seemingly loyal Heimdall would not stand for.

 

Clint's accomplices also held their breath, waiting in the wings for Heimdall's reaction.  Scott in particular seemed particularly stressed.  He glared at Cameron and his eyes widened when the young man began to shake again, indicating another closeby vision.  His glare melted and he rolled his eyes as Bucky took Cameron in his arms to support him.  Perhaps a touch too intimately.

 

"Such a weird dynamic," Scott whispered.  "What goes on at your school behind closed doors, man?"

 

Bucky's glare at Scott had him holding his hands up like he was about to be arrested.  

 

"Never mind. Forget I said something about your weird man cuddling and rando flirting."

 

Clint laughed again loudly, garnering their attention even through Cameron's vision.  The little shit was actually slapping an unmoving, unsmiling Heimdall on the bicep repeatedly.

 

"So yeah, your Queen is totally hot, does she need a pool boy?" Clint demanded.  "Cause like, I have girlfriends and one dude that I get to make out with, but they're totally cool with me doing my thing---you know, when the opportunities arise.  And I feel like being a pool boy with special services to the Queen of Asgard would be a totally awesome opportun----aacck."

 

Bucky took a step forward, even with Cameron in his arms as Heimdall gripped Clint by the throat and picked him up off the ground, the small blond's feet dangling over the floor by six inches at least.

 

"You dare disrespect my lady?" Heimdall demanded.

 

"NO---no dissin---" Clint choked out.  "I'd worship her, I swear."

"Scott, the key," Cameron breathed out as the vision left him.  "Go and get the keys."

 

"Oh!  Oh!  COOL." Scott nodded, realizing that Clint was just one really idiotic distraction for him to go and lift the set of keys from the panel.  He nodded and gave a wave before shrinking down and out of sight.

 

 

"S'kind of telling," Bucky watched as Heimdall shook Clint aggressively.  

 

"Hmm?" Cameron wondered, resting his weary head on Bucky's collarbone.  He was beyond trying to figure out why Bucky was allowing it, even going so far as encouraging it as he swept a firm left hand up and down Cameron's back soothingly.  Maybe he was a replacement for Steve, although in all of Cameron's observations of Bucky and Steve they'd never been so cuddly as this.  

 

"Where this Heimdall's loyalties lie," Bucky mused quietly, his voice a quiet rumble in Cameron's ear.  "Here's a hint, it's not with Odin and Loki."

 

Cameron nodded, it was pretty telling that the giant Asgardian seemed to be amused by insults on Odin, but was willing to choke the life out of Clint when the queen was besmirched.  Although the King and Queen clearly loved each other, they had different objectives and had no qualms in going toe to toe with each other. 

 

"Odd sort of relationship," Cameron sighed.

 

"All sorts of odd and different relationships  make the world go round, Cam," Bucky gave him a wink.

 

Cameron had the good grace to go scarlet in his blush as he stood on steady feet.  He gave Bucky a soft smile as he gently shrugged free of the embrace.  His hands reached for Bucky's wrists and did a slow slide up his arms, before resting on very impressive biceps (the left much harder than the right), and Cameron could feel the blush on his face intensifying despite the sudden burst of confidence.  

 

He felt his stomach flip flop as Bucky's eyes went half lidded and the sight of the man's adam's apple bobbing with a deep swallow had his own mouth hanging slightly agape.  

 

"Hey Cam," Bucky whispered, his mouth pulling into a smirk that was absolutely sinful.  "I ever tell you I thought what you did last year, when Rumlow tried to pull that prank on Steve---I shoulda told you back then how impressive it was."

 

"No time," Cameron shook his head.

 

"I shoulda made time and Natasha's been talking to me about it forever and---"

 

"NO TIME," Cameron insisted, using his hold on Bucky's biceps to pull him to the side as Clint went flying towards them courtesy of Heimdall throwing him bodily across the room.  They managed to stay hidden even as some of the plaster on the wall to the garage splintered.  

 

"Alright---cool dude.  I'll---I'll catch you later!" Clint mumbled pitifully, holding up his hand and flashing a disoriented, backwards peace sign.

 

"Idiot, that means something else here," Bucky sighed.  “He should have remembered that when Thor threw him across the library that one time.”

 

"If you were not a friend of the young Prince Thor, I would have thrown you into the sea!" Heimdall bellowed.

 

"Yeah, I thank every day I get to look at that fine ass and call its owner my buddy," Clint rose on shaky feet and shook off the dust from the cracked wall.  He heard the scrape of metal against the floor just behind him and he nodded at an advancing Heimdall, who looked even more offended than he had earlier.  "Well, it's been a slice, man.  But I gotta...ogle that fine Asgardian ass some more."

 

"Fucking hell," Bucky whispered in amazement as Clint took off at a nearly inhuman pace as Heimdall gave chase.  

 

Scott quickly grew back to his normal size and picked up a pair of keys off the floor.  He gave Bucky and Cam and their proximity to each other an arched brow and shook his head.  "Weird."

* * *

 

 

"Do you really think this is necessary?" Doctor Bruce Banner wondered quietly, looking out of the plane window to the beautiful peninsular country of Asgard.  It hadn't been the first time he had visited the country, and he hoped it wouldn't be the last.  He was particularly fond of the Queen, who was always so welcoming.

 

Vice Principal Hill had reported that the Queen was unavailable, having been whisked from the country some time the night before.  Hill had of course, attributed it to weird, married people politics, in her particularly succinct  way.  Bruce got that, he did.  But he also knew better than anyone that the Games would often tear families apart.  Parents had to choose a champion and there were times when the champions lived under the same roof.  

 

"I want those children back under my control," Fury said resolutely.  "Carter and Stark made a mess of things."

 

"Peg has always only wanted what was best for the kids," Bruce contradicted.  "Stark is---well, he's Howard Stark, he never means harm but---"

 

"They have been out of my control for WEEKS," Fury shook his head in disgust.  "WEEKS.  The solstice is in less than a month, and I don't have a team to bring to the party."

 

"Do they really need to go to the party at this point?" Bruce wondered.  "I mean---we all saw what they were capable of before they arrived in Asgard.  And now, King Odin reports to the Academy that cheating is afoot because your team has all developed powers already.  Powers, Fury.  New ones."

 

"I need those children back under my roof where I can make sure they're safe until the Solstice," Fury said resolutely.  "Are you in, or are you out?  Because might I remind you, that OUT means you'll be wandering the Earth without hope of an end for the next few hundred years."

 

Bruce sighed heavily, looking out on the blue, cold waters of Asgard wistfully.  

 

"I'll do it," he answered quietly.

 

"Open the bay doors," Fury demanded over his communication device.  "The immortal is coming down."

* * *

 

Darcy's exit from one of the most secure locations in the entire world was something she herself didn't quite believe.  She hadn't had to put the mind whammy on another person, because for some reason, the path that was texted to her by one of what Pepper had deemed as "support team alpha" had been remarkable.  The cameras were actively turning away from her with every hallway she rushed down.  

 

Darcy always kind of figured that the team she hadn't been put on had been the superior team.  She didn't think one of them had powers as her team had, but they were managing to do something legendary all on their own, with no supernatural assists.  It was downright awe inspiring.  

 

She hit fresh air after being led to an employee exit, just as a building wide drill was in place, and before she knew it she was half a mile from the facility.  Her phone rang and she picked it up, laughing into it immediately.

 

"How did you---that was just---I mean...amazing!" Darcy gasped out.  

 

"Don't say that, they'll let it go to their heads," Pepper's smirk could be heard over the phone.  "Besides, for us, that was just a normal Wednesday afternoon.  Vice Principal Hill has been having us run ops like that since the very first day we were separated."

 

"I can't thank you enough, Pepper," Darcy said honestly.

 

"It's our job," Pepper assured her.  "Darcy---is---is everyone alright?"

 

"Yes," Darcy nodded.  "They're far away, so I can't get the particulars of all of their feelings, but I know they're safe...and they're having fun actually, which really pisses me off, because Jane stranded me and Steve left me abandoned."

 

Pepper snorted and Darcy couldn't help but have her eyes narrow as she glared at her phone.

 

"You find something funny, Potts?" Darcy demanded.

 

"Steve would never abandon you," Pepper laughed.  "You've been superglued to each other's sides since before kindergarten."

 

"Then please, explain to me why you and your team of badasses, and you know Rumlow and his assnuggets, just had to break me out of fucking Fort Knox, Pepper, because that just happened!" Darcy sniped back.

 

"Woah, that's---unusual," Pepper took a little breath.  "You haven't gotten angry like that in a long time."

 

"That's not true," Darcy disputed.

 

"I have dossiers on you from guidance and therapy, Darcy, I know everything," Pepper sighed.  "You haven't sought out any kind of confrontation since you were---"

 

"How dare you?!?" Darcy demanded.  "What in the world do you need to be looking at my private school file for?!"

 

"Well---I'm the team lead," Pepper said quietly, a little subdued by Darcy's righteous indignation.  "Fury and Hill said I should know everything, so they gave me...everything.  It's for your own good---"

 

Darcy looked into the skyline and saw the silver glint that she inherently knew meant that Thor's amazing hammer was coming towards her to save the day.  She jostled the phone against her ear and held up her right hand, palm open as it zoomed towards her, the cracking, booming thunder shaking the trees she stood against once they connected.

 

"What was that?" Pepper demanded.

 

"A variable you never got in one of your damned folders," Darcy said through clenched teeth. 

 

"Darcy, stay where you are, Happy is on the way for you," Pepper promised.  "And Rumlow reported back from Fury's travel detail that they were closing in on Asgard for a rescue mission of everyone else?"

 

"RESCUE mission?" Darcy laughed, feeling the effect of Mjolnir right down to her toes.  The flight from Asgard to America hadn't been enough for the legendary hammer.  She obviously wanted to fly more.  Darcy was actually really happy to oblige her.  "Do me a favor Pepper?"

 

"Of course, that's what we're here for," Pepper said softly, truly meaning it.

 

"Burn the files.  Burn the entire program to the ground," Darcy ordered, truly meaning it.  "And don't trust one word that comes out of Fury's mouth."

 

* * *

 

"Okay, we totally have it figured out---"

 

"It was actually Thor who did it!"

 

"Oh shut up about stupid Thor!  He didn't build the machine."

 

"Technically YOU didn't build the machine either Stark, you just asked the machine to build itself!"

 

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and looked to Natasha in exasperation.  She merely shrugged and looked back to where Jane and Tony were bickering about the credit.  All the while, Thor, Sam and those Asgardian friends still loyal to Thor did all the heavy lifting as they modified the plane they would be stealing.

 

"They don't bicker like this when my Sparky is here!" Steve sneered at Natasha.  "You shoulda let Jane go and get her!"

 

"All your brains just deteriorate when Darcy is in the equation," Natasha accused with a beguiling little smile.  "It's totally adorable and everything I always wanted."

 

"Yeah, now you can get to working on your own love life instead of theirs," Sam taunted her as he lifted the shell of the turbine back onto the plane.  

 

"What?" Steve looked confused and then concerned.  "Are you and Bucky having---aren't you guys, you know, good?"

 

"We're fine," Natasha rolled her eyes.

 

"Just missing a little somethin' somethin'," Sam smirked.

 

"Kinky ass motherfuckers," Tony dropped his argument about credit with Jane to interject before going right back to Jane, "Thor and his knowledge of magic flying hammers only got us so far, stop riding his glorious golden dick, Jane and realize that I'm the only one with a brain that matters."

 

"I'm gonna drop you in the middle of the ocean," Jane muttered angrily.

 

"Cool, which one, because if it's above the Bermuda triangle, I could probably will up the machines off the ocean floor to come and avenge myself," Tony sneered at her.

 

"I'm gonna drop you in the middle of absolutely stinking nowhere," Jane countered.  "Like---like---"

 

"Delaware?" Helen offered helpfully.

 

"CHO!" Tony pretended to be scandalized, in order to hide his very real fear that Jane would make it a reality.

 

"INCOMING!" Scott shrieked as he ran in.  "Huge Asgardian.  Beautiful eyes the color of amber?  He's on the way and he's pissed."

 

"Heimdall will stop us if he catches us, where is Barnes?" Thor demanded.

 

"Coming," Bucky called out, setting his pace to match Cameron's so he wasn't left behind.   "Barton's out in the wild, we gotta wait for him."

 

"We need a distraction," Thor nodded.  He looked to Volstagg and nodded at him, "Bring the others."

 

The entire castle shook with the sound of a thunderous roar.

 

"No need for distraction," Helen whispered.  "That sounded suspiciously like big green."

 

"Everyone on the plane!" Steve shouted.  

 

"We can't leave Clint!" Jane fretted.  "We have no idea where we're going without Clint!"

 

"Aww, you DO like me."

 

The entire party turned to see Clint already perched on the steps to the small plane they were about to steal.  He jangled the keys and smiled, "Looks like Heimdall won't have any way to catch us now.  Let's go."

 

"How'd you get the keys off of me?" Scott demanded.

 

"A magician never reveals his secrets," Clint shrugged.  "C'mon, let's go.  If we make it to the farm by dinner, there might be enough left to keep Steve fed for like, ten minutes."

 

* * *

 

"Darcy?  Darcy?  Are you there?" Pepper demanded, getting nothing but static in response.  She looked around command central, Darcy's words echoing in her ears.

 

Trust no one.

 

But this was her team.  Sharon Carter was standing next to her, waiting for instruction.  She had twelve other people waiting for instruction, all behind various high tech holoscreens with programs running and ready to disrupt national security in order to get Darcy Lewis and the rest of Team Hercules home faster.

 

Fury and Hill had been very clear.  They were to attempt to get the team away from Asgard and more specifically King Odin as quickly as possible once Peggy Carter had uncovered a dastardly connection between Odin and the Academy.  While it had been fine to let them get to Asgard at first, now the game had changed yet again, and it was imperative to get them home and safe.

 

Especially Darcy.  

 

Sharon handed her a file folder and nodded grimly, "Chatter that Aunt Peg slipped to me two days ago.  I finally got through it all."

 

Pepper sighed.  She had only wanted a normal senior year of high school.  She had wanted to ace her classes, she had wanted to take a few college credits during the spring semester, she had wanted to maybe get a part-time job running the little office of Happy's dad's car dealership on the weekends.  

  

She hadn't wanted to be put in charge of a support team that was supposed to support real life actual heroes before they went to battle to the death against two other schools from different corners of the world.  

 

"Do I want to know?" Pepper asked seriously.

 

"Probably not," Sharon shrugged.  "They don't have any intel on Darcy.  Not one report.  Not one line of text.  They have no idea what she's capable of."

 

"Do we have any idea what she's capable of?" the chief surveillance officer asked as he turned from his console with an arched eyebrow.

 

"Shut up, Richie, you've been playing Galaga all day," Sharon sniped at him.  "I miss Cameron, that's for damned sure."

 

"He has a point though," Sitwell chimed in from his own desk where he was allocating the proper funds that they would need in order to pull off a rescue mission.  "We don't know what the Lewis girl can do. I  didn't see anything special about her during my time in the class."

 

"You were put in there as a red herring," a voice announced as footsteps could be heard walking into command central.  The weathered converse squeaking against linoleum.  

 

"Phil!" Pepper exclaimed.  "But---you graduated?  When you were done with the student teaching you just---disappeared."

 

"Fired, actually. I was fired," Phil smiled in that slow easy way of his that had always put the students of Martinville  High at ease.  

 

"And---now you're rehired?" Sharon asked warily.

 

"And now...it's time for an infrastructure change, before Fury loses those poor kids forever.  Who is ready to work?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Coming up: More Coulson! The flight from hell! And the hulk just wants to go and get his babies back.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	24. High Fliers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is ready for more angry Darcy? More inappropriate threesome propositions? More incredibly ridiculous escapes? Here we go!!!

**Chapter Twenty-Four: High Fliers**

* * *

 

"So, what exactly did you geniuses do?" Bucky demanded as they all boarded the plane, which was just big enough to fit them all, with Loki sitting unconscious on the floor and Clint sitting on top of Loki.  "And why are we bringing your brother again?"

 

"Loki has seen much in the past few days," Thor revealed.  "He knows what we are capable of."

 

"He knows what DARCY is capable of," Steve added for emphasis.

 

"Indeed, and I fear he would give that information to those that would seek harm against us," Thor nodded.

 

"But what about your Dad, then?" Sam asked of Thor.  "Because, he's seen all and he has bad, bad connections too, apparently."

 

"I have contacted my mother, she is on her way home after overpowering her guards and will have her loyal lock my father in the dungeon," Thor smiled at this.

 

"Thor, I'm sorry all our problems kind of---wrecked your parents' marriage," Steve said honestly.

 

Thor laughed, loud and booming, shaking the plane that Jane and Tony were arguing over the controls.  The Asgardian shook his head at Steve and shrugged.

 

"This is a normal family holiday, I assure you.  One of my parents lock my other parent in a dungeon.  It makes for great entertainment for my people and keeps our enemies on their toes," Thor insisted.

 

"Kinky," Clint gave two thumbs up, then let out a yelp and quickly reached his hands downwards to grab hold as the plane jerked into motion, very, very fast motion.  He grimaced when he realized he had grabbed two handfuls of Loki's ass and quickly let go.  

 

"Legolas, where are we going?" Tony shouted above the sound of an obviously souped up plane engine.

 

Clint grinned in anticipation up at Natasha, who could only roll her eyes fondly.

 

"Iowa!" He called out gaily.

 

"Hold on to your tits!" Jane shouted before the entire plane zoomed straight up into the sky faster than any other plane had ever gone before. Jane laughed and slapped Tony's hands away from the controls yet again.  "WOOHOO!"

 

* * *

 

 

The Immortal howled in indignation as the plane zipped up and well over his head, disappearing into a speck in the far off sky in the time it took him to take a breath before he roared.  

 

He turned to the plane that had landed that had brought his counterpart to this awful land of foolish Kings and shocking little hammers.  The man who wanted to be in charge came running out yelling things the Immortal didn't want to understand.

 

"Someone tell me we have some sort of tracking on that plane!" The bald one screamed.

 

The giant green man, who had been alive for far too long at this point, brought up his fist, smirking when the bald man had the good sense to flinch before he flicked him in the chest with his finger, sending the bald man flying into the cold Asgardian sea.

 

"Hulk will find babies himself."

 

* * *

 

"HOLY SHIT!"

 

The screech would have been normal coming from Clint's mouth.  Perhaps even Scott.  

 

But the screeching, ear splitting words had not come from Clint or Steve or even Sam.  They had exploded out of Bucky's mouth as he held on to both Natasha and Cameron with the left arm, his right arm anchoring him to a structural support on the plane.  Their entire traveling party was in shambles.  Tony and Jane were the only ones strapped in.  Thor seemed to be fine, and had grabbed onto a shrunk Scott, stuffing him in his pocket all the while anchoring both Sam and Helen so they no longer flew around the plane's small cargo space as if they were in zero gravity.  

 

"I still can't believe the tiny thief gets to be next to Thor's chiseled man boobs like that and I get stuck with this shit!" Clint whined.  

 

He was clinging to Loki, who was getting quite battered as he flew here and there on the plane, still unconscious and tied up expertly.  Every once in a while, Steve would manage to stop the pair of them from crashing into the walls of the plane, but that seemed more about keeping the walls safe than Loki safe.

 

Natasha looked at Bucky, who seemed genuinely at the end of his rope, sanity wise.  It felt as if the plane might break apart at any minute, and despite keeping a cool expression, Natasha was worried too.  She looked up when she felt a soft hand on her cheek, and she looked slightly up into Cameron's deep brown eyes, and though he was chewing at his bottom lip nervously, his eyes seemed to be trying to reassure her.

 

"I didn't see anything bad," he said softly, cupping her cheek as she managed a soft smile his way.  "I promise, I saw us landing on a farm, only slightly bumpy, and then Steve tears the door off and then there's kissing."

 

"Kissing huh?" Natasha whispered.

 

"uh----" Cameron managed to answer back.

 

Bucky's left arm seemed to bring the pair of them closer, closer to each other and closer to him.  Their antics had at least gotten Bucky to shut up and he was no longer screeching expletives.  

 

"Are you guys---no never mind," Cameron gave a shy sort of smile.  

 

"What?" Bucky asked, his voice at a normal volume. "C'mon, Cam, if we crash and burn, best not to leave any unanswered questions, right?"

 

"It's just---lately, and you know before, like at the ice cream shoppe that one time, you," he gestured with his chin to Natasha.  "You leaned in and did this---thing.  And then when we were training that one day, you---"

 

He looked to Bucky.

 

"Yeah, I totally slapped your ass," Bucky acknowledged.  

 

"He's bad at this," Natasha rolled her eyes.

 

"Are you guys flirting with me?  Like---as a couple?" Cameron blurted quietly.

 

"Why wouldn't we be?" Natasha blinked at him.

 

"Because you two are the world's most genetically perfect supermodels and I'm---" Cameron trailed off and his expression went wry and knowing, "Just barely scraping normal."

 

"I think you're adorable," Natasha insisted, allowing her place against Bucky's body to give her an opportunity to wrap her arms around Cameron's waist, letting her hands rest on the small of his back.  

 

"Oh no," Cameron blinked and looked to Bucky as if to apologize for his lady love finding him palatable in anyway.

 

But Bucky was smirking at him in that sort of sinful way that Cameron was pretty sure could be weaponized somehow.  And that left hand of his managed to land on top of Natasha's and he could feel rough, strong fingertips grazing at a tender spot on the small of his back.

 

"I think you're cute," Bucky verbalized calmly, causing Cameron to take in a shuddering breath.  "Nat figured you weren't averse to---you know, the bi thing."

 

"I didn't pry, I'm just really good at reading people," Natasha assured him.  

 

"And more important than looks, I like YOU," Bucky said with that eerie, soft calm that seemed wrong as his right arm strained to keep a hold on something solid.  "We both do."

 

Cameron was silent then, and Natasha seemed to take that pretty badly, giving him a smile that seemed to have too many teeth in it.  "It's alright you know, we're on a plane that might collapse, this is a lot of information to just dump on you.  So---we're just---it's okay."

 

Cameron nodded, still too stunned to say anything and kept nodding as Natasha and Bucky both moved their hands to more appropriate places.

 

"OW!" Clint whined as he rode the sliding body of Loki around the floor of the plane.  "Seriously, Thor, your brother is a bony dude.  I mean, you got all the beef and he got all the sharp edges."

 

"But he's not my true brother, is he?" Thor murmured, taking a sigh and looking to Natasha.  "I had no idea."

 

"Well, family is what you make of it," Sam offered helpfully.  "I mean, look at Barnes.  He's a piece of shit on a good day, and his hair is ridiculous and he has this smell, you know?"

 

"The point, Sam," Steve sighed, never finding the amusement Sam and Bucky seemed to take when they playfully insulted each other.

 

"But he's my brother, right?" Sam offered.  "Whoever said you can't choose your family is an asshole.  Let's just ignore him."

 

"Yes, a good idea," Thor smiled.  "And now you are all brothers and sisters to me.  All.  Except for my dear Jane, she is not my kin."

 

"And me, cause you know, rawr," Clint winked at Thor.

 

"GOD DAMMIT CLINT I WILL DROP YOU AND LOKI BOTH FROM THIS PLANE!" Jane warned.

 

"How much longer?" Bucky asked.  "because no offense, but I think this thing is coming apart at the seams."

 

"We're halfway over the Atlantic," Tony revealed in excitement.  

 

"WHAT?" Steve managed to walk to one of the windows and sure enough, they had navy blue ocean beneath them.  "It's been less than an hour!"

 

"Genius," Tony pointed to himself.  Then he pointed to Jane.  "Genius."

 

They shared a no-look high five and Jane nodded.

 

"And don't you ever forget it."

 

* * *

 

Darcy couldn't quite understand it, but she knew that Moomueh knew what she was doing.  Not only did she know what she was doing, but the hammer was taking great satisfaction from doing her thing.  

 

Her thing, mainly was, flying through the air at the speed of a plane.  Darcy was FREEZING, but some sort of warmth was emanating from the hammer's shaft, and it seemed to be staving off frostbite or, you know, death for the time being.  And it really was something remarkable to be up so high.  Darcy didn't think she was as high as a plane, but she was definitely high up enough that if she lost her grip, she would be so very very dead.

 

She didn't know where she was going, but she was pretty sure that Meowma was taking her back to Thor.  

 

"Thanks for coming to my rescue.  You rock," Darcy told the hammer.  "And you know, thanks for slowing down, I know you can go faster, but I think my body would probably come apart?"

 

Just then a small, black drone, looking like a children's toy, but moving so much faster than a children's toy came rushing to where Mewlnar and Darcy were lazily flying west.  It flew by Darcy's side for far too long and she kicked at it, worried that she was going to be taken in by some shady government organization that would then enlist her to be some kind of put upon superhero.  

 

She kicked at it wildly, and was annoyed to see it was capable of dodging, all the while keeping up with her flight path.

 

"Miss Lewis, please don't destroy the drone, I only have two more, and I'm using the other one to find your compatriots," a very loud speaker relayed to her.  

 

Darcy held up her middle finger, as a matter of reflex, and then tried to rush away with the hammer, zipping ahead of the drone in a swirling pattern through the air.  The drone wasn't having any of that though, and it managed to shadow her expertly.  

 

"You won't out maneuver us, Miss Lewis, we have Kurt on controls, and you know that he plays video games more than he breaths, I assure you, he can follow you," the eerily calm voice relayed.  "Please land and we'll take you to safety."

 

"Who ARE you?" Darcy demanded.

 

"Well, our paths never crossed, really, when I was at your school," the disembodied voice admitted.  "I'm Coulson, Miss Lewis.  I used to student teach at your school, namely---"

 

"YOU STOLE MY IPOD!" Darcy yelled.  "Steven had it in his bag and was showing it to Thor, and you took it from him!"

 

"This is not the time to discuss the proper enforcement of school rules," Coulson sighed wearily.

 

Darcy had been on the receiving end of that type of sigh many times in her life

 

\- You can't live with Steve and Bucky.  Be realistic, Darcy.

 

\- You are students you are not allowed to unionize Miss Lewis.

 

\- Just because Bucky's hands were the ones breaking the lock, don't think I don't know that you were the one behind this, Miss Lewis.

 

Well she was through with hearing weary, put upon sighs that she didn't ACTUALLY earn.  And she was through with going along with what an adult said because they were supposed to be safer.  Being an adult didn't make you smarter or saner or safer.  It just made you older.  

 

"Please come back to the ground, we can have you retrieved in less than an hour."

 

"I don't wanna," Darcy shook her head, staring into the camera in the small drone as she floated closer to get her voice heard.   All o her anger tinged the normally soft tones of her voice and her smile was anything but happy.  “I want to blast you and your other three magic drones out of the sky.”

 

Molenear felt like singing as she spun, unbelievably happy to start doing some damage. 

 

* * *

 

"Dude.  What the hell is that?" 

 

Tony squinted through the front windows of the plane, which were quite dirty thanks to the very long and quick travel they were doing.  He immediately slapped Jane's hands away from the controls and slowed the plane down.  

 

"Stark!" Thor bellowed, immediately incensed at the sight of Tony slapping at Jane's hands.  He took a step forward, bringing Helen and Sam with him.

 

"It's Darcy!" Tony laughed.

 

Steve pushed Thor, and by extension Helen and Sam out of the way and rushed to the small open cockpit, looking into the sky even as the plane came to a screeching halt as Tony flipped switches, causing the thrusters to turn at a 90 degree angle so they hovered instead of flew.  About two miles in the distance, Steve could see a small little figure, holding a big hammer, zapping lightning at a little black machine buzzing around her.

 

"It's attacking her!" Steve panicked and looked around, wondering how he could go and help her.  

 

A sudden calm came over the entire plane as everyone disengaged from  holding on for dear life.  Sam stepped forward and felt for the first time since Darcy's separation from them, a measure of calm on his brain.  Ideas were no longer flinging themselves about like spaghetti noodles in the wall of his mind.  

 

"Stark, can you make some kind of communication system?" Steve nodded at Sam as he went to the loading dock of the little cargo plane.  

 

"Not out of that!" Sam muttered as Tony lifted the literally retro-style headphones he had found in the cockpit with the earmuff style pieces that would have looked like Princess Leia buns on the side of Sam's head.  

 

"It would have worked," Tony grumbled before taking a pair of headphones that Helen had found in her jacket pocket and immediately fiddling with it, the wiring changing at a caress of his index finger.  He put his right palm on the fancy communications systems of the plane that Thor had broken immediately upon entering the plane so that they could not be tracked by Odin's people.  

 

Tony began muttering to the bits lowly, it almost sounded like he was reciting the words to a song, a little smirk building on his face as his palm glowed a pretty baby blue while he communicated with the broken machinery, building it back to new and different.  He tossed the ear buds back to Sam with a nod.

 

"Oh---cool," Sam shrugged and his voice came out of the speakers of the plane.

 

"I'm awesome," Tony cracked his knuckles.  

 

"Darcy looks PISSED," Jane fretted.  "Don't bring her back in!  She's gonna make me cry with mean looks and words."

 

"That's---that's wimpy," Tony accused.

 

"Oh ho ho ho," Jane laughed bitterly.  "You didn't hang out with us when we were little kids.  Darcy used to make RUMLOW cry when he'd pick on Steve for being poor."

 

"Good times," Bucky nodded in fond reminiscence.  

 

"You guys lead the way, she and I will follow," Sam assured them, before Tony managed to somehow open the cargo door without hitting the button.  Sam saluted his crew before zooming out, his pulse racing at the feel of the wind rushing all around him.  He couldn't help it, he let out a delighted shout that quickly turned into a panicked shout when Darcy summoned mother freaking lightning with Thor's hammer in an attempt to zap what looked to be a drone trying to chase her.

 

Sam remembered laughing whenever Brock Rumlow would cry, thanks to a six year old Darcy's vindictive tongue, temper and well thought out, untraceable violence.  

 

And she was probably still pissed about the whole Fort Knox thing.

 

And had Thor's magic hammer.

 

And could probably now zap him and all of their friends of their power and energy now that they were so close again.

 

He was so screwed.  He whined and sucked his teeth.  "Shit."

 

* * *

 

 

"Miss Lewis, this behavior is not appropriate for a young lady of your heritage----"

 

"OH FUCK YOUR FUCKING FACE OFF, WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY HERITAGE SECRET AGENT MAN!" Darcy screamed at the little black drone that was still following her.

 

She was so angry.  First with Jane and the rest who had abandoned her.  Then with Pepper who had only been trying to help.  Now all of her anger was focused on this stupid little plane.  And to be honest, it was quite a lot of anger.  

 

She had millennia of anger built up in all reality.  

 

And that really old voice was telling her not to trust anyone, not even her friends.  She could only trust Steve, but that was if no one else was trying to persuade him of all kinds of nefarious plots and plans.  They'd gotten Steve to abandon her in that golden prison after all.  They would keep her from him now.

 

Logistically, she knew this wasn't true.  She knew that she could trust her friends.  But the whisper was telling her that they would betray her.

 

She really didn't want to believe it, and it was all amounting to anger at this point.

  

And she'd not allowed herself to be angry in such a long time, and she was sort of drunk off of it.  She felt something click in her brain and she remembered that the amazing hammer she held in her hand could summon lightning.

 

So she did without a second thought.

 

"Darcy-loo, quit it!" a shout carried out over the wind.  "You know I never liked thunderstorms!"

 

Darcy looked over, her eyes glowing blue and sure enough, Sam Wilson was trying to dodge lightning strikes that were falling down from the sky.  Just beyond Sam was an aircraft and Darcy realized why she'd been able to call the lightning.

 

Her friends were there.  They'd come for her.  They hadn't abandoned her.  

 

She could trust them.

She could feel them all once more, taking up space in her brain, occupying places best left occupied.  A warmth went through her despite the chill from being up so high and she was practically blissed out, a dreamy grin on her face, not realizing the the naughty Mjolnir was taking advantage of her power surge, connecting with the lightning in a delightfully violent blast.

 

The small black drone just evaded the lightning, turning to Sam.

 

"Mr. Wilson.  Am I to assume you can fly now?" the drone asked politely.

 

"Holy shit, Coulson?" Sam blinked.  "Guys, Coulson is flying a drone attacking Darcy."

 

There was a scuffle over the communication unit.  Sam flinched at the sound of Tony shrieking about his nipples and Steve started chortling and snorting hysterically, which meant that someone was tickling him.

 

"WILSON, TELL DARCE NOT TO BASH THE DRONE!" Clint ordered.

 

Just then Darcy smashed the drone, who was focusing on Sam, with the hammer, immediately breaking it into pieces that quickly fell to Earth.

 

"Uhm, too late?" Sam offered.  

 

"It was creeping me out!" Darcy insisted, her voice blaring in everyone's head.  "Can we please go somewhere that's not the sky? Mewmew wants to hurt more stuff, and I'd rather not."

 

"Well, that definitely means you're not getting on the plane," Sam smirked at Darcy.

 

"Awwww," Steve whined.  

 

"C'mon, I'll fly with you, we'll follow the plane," Sam smiled, reaching out a hand and grasping Darcy's hammer free hand.  "Don't worry Steve, you'll get your grubby paws on Darcy-Loo soon enough."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Next up: Life on the farm!


	25. Young Clint Barton Had a Farm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter this week, but eventful!

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Young Clint Barton Had a Farm**

 

* * *

 

The landing was less than ideal.  Not Sam. He was great at landing.  He'd only been flying a little over a week now, and he was absolutely, 100 percent amazing at it.  He landed like the human version of a plane, running into it and trotting out the momentum on the brown, dry grass of the field that the stolen Asgardian, Foster-Stark souped up plane was landing as well.  They were less smooth than Sam, probably because they were arguing over the controls, or Tony was trying to invent new landing gear on the fly.

 

Sam squinted at the plane and could see a wheel moving back and forth on the landing gear, obviously being controlled by Tony.

 

But they landed the plane just fine, if not as smoothly as Sam had landed.

 

Darcy was another story.

 

Mjolnir still wanted to fly and refused to allow Darcy to put her feet on the ground.  So the five-foot three teenager was dangling in the air, her feet about a foot and a half off of the ground as she tried to pull the hammer from the sky.

 

"C'mon, you gotta go say hi to your big tall blond stud," Darcy yelled up at the hammer.  "And I want to say hi to MY big tall blond stud.  Mostly I want to pinch the crap out of him for letting Jane ditch me.  But also, there should be kissing."

 

The hammer didn't want to listen though, and so did not.  Dragging Darcy up another few inches into the sky, making her kick her legs like she was pedalling a bicycle.

 

"Darcy!" Steve shouted as he was the first off the plane.  He flung a flimsy looking door to the ground and jumped out of the plane, running towards her as quick as he could.  

 

She gripped the hammer with both hands now, hoping to yank it from the sky and bash Steve on the head with it (very lightly of course), but she only looked sillier as she dangled in the sky, windmilling her legs.  Steve stood in front of her, looking at her in wonder.  Her face was red and sweaty, her hair was wild and windblown and her expression was one she usually wore when they had to watch television shows that she hated and the rest of the crew loved (Arrested Development.  She just didn't  _ get _ it).

 

Steve dodged a kick to his groin from Darcy and managed to get his hands on her waist, easing her off of the grip she had on the hammer and wrapping two beefy arms around her so that she couldn't try and retaliate as he kissed her soundly.  

 

Sam dove to the ground for cover, because as handy as Barnes' indestructible pseudo-metal arm could be, he wasn't too keen on having any of his parts be metallic in nature.  But no blue light came out of Steve's avid kissing and Darcy's own enthusiastic response.  She'd stopped struggling and now had her legs hitched high on his waist, threatening to topple them both onto the ground.

 

"Told you there'd be kissing," Cameron announced as the rest of the crew disembarked from the plane.  

 

"Anybody could have predicted that," Scott scoffed at him.  "Tell me the winning numbers to the powerball, then I'll be a believer."

 

Clint ran up to Darcy and Steve, completely ignoring their bumping and grinding, tapping Darcy on the shoulder obnoxiously.

 

"BUSY!" Darcy hissed out before going back to try and bite Steve's bottom lip aggressively.

 

"That drone you destroyed---that was Coulson, right?" Clint ignored Darcy's status update and continued to poke at her back, moving down so that he could poke the butt that Steve currently had two big handfuls of.  "Did you make him mad with the destruction?  I don't want us to make him mad."

 

"Coulson is just another adult in the long line of adults that probably knows too much about us," Helen wisely said.  "What makes you think we should trust the guy after Fury, and Carter, and Stark, and the Odinsons?"

 

"You're just mad he didn't let you do that zombie experiment in freshman year," Clint waved off Helen.  "Darcy-loo, Darce, DARCY, stop sucking on Steve's tongue and tell me what Coulson said!"

 

"He said vague weird shit!" Darcy yelled, turning her head to glare at Clint, who was poking a part of Darcy's ass that Steve didn't encompass with his giant hands.  "I'm pretty sure he's from the Men in Black, and he wanted to follow us, no doubt to bring us back to Fury.  Or Carter.  Or Stark.  Or the Odinsons!"

 

"Or maybe even Loki's Academy," Helen added helpfully.

 

"Exactly!" Darcy waved Clint off before turning to Steve again.

 

"Well did he say anything about me?" Clint asked hopefully.  "Like---how he'd like to see me and Laura and Bobbi again?  Maybe?  Just a hint?"

 

"Who in the hell are Laura and Bobbi?" Tony wondered.

 

"Clint's harem," Bucky answered as he and Thor drug Loki off of the plane.  

 

"What the FUCK, that pervert gets a harem and I can't even get laid?!" Scott demanded hotly.  "What kind of circus rejects does a guy like Clint pull down?"

 

"That'd be us," a deep, feminine voice announced dryly.

 

The entire crew, minus an unconscious Loki, turned to the lane that was leading to a big, old, rickety farmhouse.  There stood a brunette and a blonde, hand in hand, dressed in what was probably once very smart cowboy clothing, but seemed old and frayed and very broken in now.  The blonde had a baseball cap on her head and the brunette had her hair in pigtails.

 

"Babe!" Clint grinned, taking his hand off of Darcy's ass and grinning at the brunette.  He then turned to the blonde and nodded, "Other Babe!  Honey’s, I'm home!"

 

* * *

 

 

The Asgardian palace was an interesting place to be currently.  The large green ogre of a man had disappeared, and the small, rumpled man that had taken his place had already left the island.  Fury was standing in front of the King of Asgard, who was still in restraints, this time administered by the childhood friends of his son.  Sif was grinning as she held a knife above her King's throat, ready to slash should he try to escape.

 

They were waiting for their Queen to arrive back, and all sins and traitorous activities they were currently involved in would be forgiven.  

 

In the meantime, it didn't hurt to have the King be questioned by the one who had allowed Thor and his friends to escape to Asgard.

 

"What have you told your spies at the Academy?"  Fury asked calmly.  He'd gotten the reports from headquarters.  The support team had deduced that neither the Academy nor the School for the Gifted had learned of Darcy.  Which meant Odin had underestimated her (a recurring phenomena in the girl's life), and continued to underestimate her even after she had started to make the impossible happen.

 

"I have told them nothing, Fury," Odin rolled his eyes, bored with that day's drama already.  "You care too much of sides, of coming out on top.  I have investments in two of the teams and I know too well that it doesn't matter what side wins, so long as someone wins."

 

"So you have no loyalty to any side?" Fury smirked.  "Even though you attended the Academy and wanted Thor to follow suit?"

 

Odin made no response and Fury took a step closer, his face a perfect match to his name.  

 

"What did you tell them?"

 

"That the titan's serum had unleashed the powers early," Odin sighed in his boredom.  "That their thief was incapable and that Loki would handle how best to use your team's advantages for his team’s advantage instead."

 

Fury nodded once and stepped back.  He turned and began walking to the door, nodding at Frigga as she stormed into the castle, her long, cream colored jacket fluttering behind her like a cape.  

 

"Mr. Fury," Frigga acknowledged.  "The children have borrowed one of my planes, and I fear, have made it faster than any other plane on this planet.  I have my transportation coordinator trying to track them."

 

"Thank you, Your Highness.  I'll be in touch," Fury promised.  He smiled and it was a small, genuine thing on his otherwise miserable face.  "Enjoy your reunion with your husband."

 

Frigga's eyes lit up and she looked into the throne room, where Odin was being physically restrained on his throne.  

 

"Don't worry, I will."

 

* * *

 

 

Scott, Helen and Sam were staring in wonder at the two beautiful young ladies who had walked them back to the farmhouse, fed them, given them all beds, and then started in on breakfast the next day.  It had been a good eighteen hours after Clint had revealed that he had a harem, or more accurately, a polyamorous open relationship with two women who lived together on a farm in Iowa.

 

"Why?" Scott whispered again.

 

"He makes me laugh," Laura shrugged.

 

"He's fun to beat up," Bobbi replied easily.

 

"I just fit with my ladies," Clint smacked Scott upside the head as he made his way into the kitchen, intent on getting his hands on some bacon before Steve came downstairs and demolished it.  He winked at Thor, who was coming in from the chilly late autumn morning along with Bucky.  "Doesn't mean there's not room for more, though."

 

"I'm not joining your harem!" Jane hissed from where she and Tony were going over the logistics of how they got there and how they could further upgrade their amazing aeroplane.  "No matter how much you want to make out with Thor!"

 

"Too bad," Laura sighed wistfully.  "You'd be a welcome addition to the household, with or without Thor."

 

"Oh shit," Jane whispered as Bobbi winked at her.  Jane took a look around the room, looking for Darcy.  "Am I bisexual?  Is it some sort of disease that's leaked out of Barton, infecting all of us?"

 

"Heh."

 

Everyone looked up and saw that Cameron was fighting back snorts of laughter as he worked on bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  He had the good grace to blush and then look up with a shrug.

 

"Everyone's a little bit bisexual, if they're honest with themselves," Helen revealed.  "Human nature and all that."

 

Scott and Sam looked at each other suddenly, appraisal glinting in their eyes as they gave each other a once over.  Sam shrugged in weary acknowledgment while Scott got a flirty smirk on his face and winked at Sam.

 

"Who is admitting they're bisexual?" Darcy wondered as she led Steve into the kitchen by the hand.  

 

"Aside from Bucky?" Steve wondered, wiping crusty sleep from his eyes with his free hand.

 

"HAH!  I KNEW IT!" Tony popped to his feet, his head hitting the low hanging lighting above the table.  He put one head on his sore head and the other pointed back and forth between Steve and Darcy.  "Heathens, the lot of you!  Switching sides and partners wily nily!"

 

"You made out with Rhodes last year," Clint reminded Tony.

 

"How'd you KNOW that?" Tony gasped in shock.

 

"Nat," Clint shrugged.  "She knows everything."

 

"True enough," Bucky smirked, sitting next to Cameron and reaching for the platter of bacon, but being stopped by Steve, who also made a grab for it.  Darcy sat down between the two of them and got the bacon platter herself, drawing it to her plate when both boys released it at the same time.  She carefully gave each one of them five strips before handing the plate off to Thor.  

 

Steve shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth and perked up a bit, grabbing a tray of something that looked like danishes and popped two on Darcy's plate.  He looked around, taking stock of his friends as he finally had some sort of coherency now that he was more awake.

 

"Where's Nat?" he asked.

 

"With my---with Loki," Thor announced.  "Who is also bisexual, if anyone is keeping count."

 

"Ew, he's like a skeleton with skin on him," Clint shivered in disgust.  He gave Thor an adorable nose scrunch and said, "I prefer my guys to have stuff to grab onto."

 

"Stop being a flirty gross dick," Jane ordered.  

 

Natasha walked in at that moment and sat down on Cameron's other side with a sigh, catching the danish that Darcy threw her handily.  Coffee appeared in front of her as well, courtesy of Bucky.  She looked to Cameron then and gave him a little smile.

 

"See anything good in that brain of yours, Klein?" 

 

"Nope," Cameron shook his head.  "I kind of like it.  Peaceful.  I mean---"

 

"OW!" Clint shouted as Jane portaled herself to standing directly behind him, smacking the back of his head before portalling quickly away.

 

"I saw that coming," Cameron admitted.  "She's gonna keep doing it for like three days.  But otherwise, nada."

 

"Nothing about us dropping Loki into the bottom of a lake?" Natasha wondered hopefully.  She looked to Thor and shrugged, "No offense, but your brother is a heinous dick."

 

"He's not my brother, apparently," Thor sighed, looking down at the massive plate he had assembled.  "But still, he will need sustenance."

 

"I'll go," Clint offered.  "I like to think I annoy him plenty."

 

"He's not giving me much to read," Natasha admitted.  "I can get that he's lying about what he's doing, but he---he doesn't know.  Almost like someone planted the objective in his brain without his consent.  And he really wanted to deliver Darcy to the Academy."

 

"And what is the Academy again, exactly?" Sam wondered.

 

"Where I was supposed to go to school, Thor as well," Natasha admitted.  "If you thought Fury was a strict task master, then you've never met their headmasters.  Pierce and Stane---"

 

"Sounds like a bad porno," Tony chimed in.

 

"Alexander Pierce and Obediah Stane," Natasha continued as if Tony hadn't even spoken.  "Their approach to education isn't exactly enlightened.  We're talking human rights violations.  And apparently they've been taking the upcoming Games a lot more seriously than we have."

 

"Well---do we have to play the Games anymore?" Scott wondered.

 

"You don't even go here, Tiny Tim!" Tony accused.  

 

"Regardless, he still has powers," Steve interjected.  "He's helped us and been loyal.  That's all that matters.  He's a part of this team now."

 

"Ridiculous," Tony rolled his eyes, but didn't try to argue the point anymore.  

 

"We all do have the powers," Bucky said thoughtfully.  "Why do we even have to go this Winter Solstice thing?  I mean---what's the point."

 

"The point---"

 

Every head in the kitchen turned to the back door, where a sheepish Clint was standing with Dr. Bruce Banner, who looked like he had seen better days.  He was more rumpled than usual, and his clothing was in tatters.  He gave a small, tired smile to the children he had tracked down with the secret help of Coulson.  The greatest hope that Coulson had of bringing the children back.  Doctor Bruce Banner...NOT the big green immortal monster he became.

 

"The point is that just like generations before you, you have the chance to  _ end  _ it," Bruce said softly, sounding hopeful.

 

Cameron reached out and grabbed both Natasha's and Bucky's hands, his eyes darting to Darcy.

 

'The tattoos.  On his arm.  That's---those are the tattoos from the big green monster dude.'

 

"The point is that after centuries of living, I might finally get the chance, the best chance I've seen in a really long life, to---move on, to finish this life and see what happens after that," Bruce gave them a sheepish small smile before taking a step back on the porch.

 

His body slowly changed, painfully changed, loudly changed.  Skin that was olive toned went green and a diminutive man grew larger and larger until only his bottom half could be seen through the doorway.

 

"HOLY SHITBALLS!" Laura and Bobbi screamed in unison as Clint stumbled into the house, looking around for some kind of weapon.  

 

All the teenagers eventually shook off their initial shock, they all immediately went to work at defending each other and the temporary home they had landed in.  Clint picked up the circular shield that Steve had brought from Asgard, tossing it his way as he and Natasha both dove for the kitchen island, where in the lower cabinets, there was an overabundance of fire arms where most normal people kept pots.

 

"Why do you have so many guns?" Helen looked to Bobbi and Laura, who both caught pistols that Clint tossed them.  

 

"Clint's brother's a little---" Bobbi wavered on what to say as she couldn't really take her eyes over the monster that Clint had tried to describe to them the night before.

 

"Bonkers and conspiracy theory enthusiast," Laura finished.  "He won't step foot into the house unless we have everything locked and loaded for him."

 

"I don't want one," Darcy shook her head when Natasha offered her a hand gun.  She looked around as everyone looked to get ready for the fight of their lives and she stepped forward, away from Steve and Bucky's grasp, going for the door where the giant green legs were waiting.  "Uhm---Uh...Doctor Banner?"

 

The beast shuffled, almost nervous before he bent down, his head just barely peering in.  A smile stretched across the beast's lips, looking unpracticed and out of place.  

 

"Hi babies.  Hulk find you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Clint has a harem nearly everyone is bisexual and Hulk found his babies. Where do they go from here????
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	26. The Ballad of Brus, Son of the Banner Man of the Clan Arascain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Ready to be sad? Okay...let's go.

 

**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Ballad of Brus, Son of the Banner Man of the Clan Arascain**

 

* * *

 

 

Small, inconsequential Brus, son of the Banner man of the Clan of Arascain, was born a long time ago, half a world away, and was not expected to survive much past infancy.  While the Gods would think that they were what mortals should take heed of, have fear of or pray to, humanity and all of its idiotic wisdom refused to stay completely beholden to them. Brus was named for a great king of Scotland, and his little mother had often hoped that one day, her child would find some way to better his life, to rise above their station.

 

When the smallest little one of the house of the banner carriers of the great clan was born, he enjoyed a content, warm, well fed two weeks before his little struggling mother was taken with the Black Death.  His father had not even made it to his birth, having met the business end of a hatchet during a battle eight months before Bruce's birth.

 

The Banner bearers of Arascain should have died out with the two week old squalling infant, whose lungs were more powerful than a diminutive body would normally allow.  Wet nurses were in short supply and impossibly expensive and no one seemed willing to take on the care of the infant who would surely succumb to the plague himself soon enough.  

 

Brus persevered and aside from his hunger and puniness, he seemed of hardy stock as he blatantly refused to die and had the audacity to accept the goat's milk and do his best to thrive on it.  

 

No one would take the little Bannerman in completely, passing him from house to house for essential care but not much more.  

 

When Brus was a small, silent two year old, he met a woman who would change his life.  She was a moor, although her family line had been in Scotland and Ireland for hundreds of years, an outsider now walking the countryside looking for something.  The Lady Ainfean would continue her family's sole purpose, and not a hand could be raised to stop her.

 

Not that anyone would stop her when she looked down at the tiny Brus, who was only trying to be helpful to the family begrudgingly housing him this week, as he chased after goats.  

 

Lady Ainfean did not take the boy with her on her travels that would eventually take her to other continents, but she did see to his survival, and suddenly Brus was well cared for, well fed, and very nearly happy for the next twelve years of his life.  He was one of the few of his clan who would learn to read, who had no real place in the caste system and was therefore, allowed to do all he wanted.  He learned all he could from all of the masters of the village, but blacksmithing and crop tending would only take him so far.

 

The Lady Ainfean would send books, volumes and volumes of books in all kinds of languages, some of which Brus could read.  He learned a lot, and seemed to understand his own fate at the tender age of fourteen.  

 

That was when the Lady Ainfean came back, and with her a handful of other young people she had collected over the last dozen years from around the globe.  Most notable was the fair haired Prince of Asgard, who seemed delighted to finally meet the little Brus.  For little he was.  Smaller and younger than any other student the Lady Ainfean had managed to collect.  

 

Brus was now doted on in a way he had not been all of his life.  To be sure, he had been given food and shelter and clothing, but now he was given attention and genuine care.  The Prince would heft little Brus up on his shoulder and run around the village they had decided to open Lady Ainfean's school in, the aim of which was to prepare the young people for the battle that was coming in the next year.  

 

Brus loved the Prince most of all, finding in him the jovial brother and family he had never had.  It had been an abundance of riches and happiness, the brightest time in Brus's short life.

 

And then she came.  

 

A small, dirty thing, with fierce blue almond shaped eyes that stood out sharply from tanned olive skin.  She's arrived in a gown made of smooth, shiny material, silk of all things, that had obviously seen better days.   Her hair was black and heavy and straight and Brus thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on.  

 

No sooner than she had been pulled off the horse that had brought her to the school, she was spitting mad, obviously cursing in a very different language at Lady Ainfean.  Brus had been utterly transfixed, not understanding what the girl was saying, but absolutely impressed with her willingness to go against the intimidating Lady Ainfean.  And when the little girl from the Far East of the world screamed something at Lady Ainfean harshly, it had been a wonder that the great and mighty lady seemed to LISTEN to her instructions, sitting herself down in the mud and attempting to shove her head in a small hole.

 

 

It had been love at first sight.  For both Brus and the Prince.

 

Xiu, as Brus would learn her name was, didn't even speak to the Prince for months.  She simply stared at him curiously and silently.  She only spoke with the young Brus, spending hours upon hours with him as they tried to work out the best way to communicate.  Within a month, the two clever young people could effortlessly hold conversations with each other in a sort of mashed up language between the Scottish and the Chinese.  

 

 

Lady Ainfean told them six months into Xiu's stay that they would have to choose a champion to take on the Titan's Curse.  They were to chose the purest of heart.  Every member of the school had decided that it should be the Prince of Asgard.  He was noble, true, and good.  Only their benefactor Lady Ainfean knew that the Prince was actually descended from the original family of heroes.  But it shone through, and Brus was jealous of the man who had become his older brother.  

 

He was angry that everyone, including himself, had accepted the Prince so readily when Brus had been fighting for a scrap of kindness his whole life.  He was angry that he seemed to have to work three times as hard as anyone else just to survive.  But most of all, he was angry that whenever his beloved Xiu looked on the Prince, those striking blue eyes would go soft and full of wonder, as if she was looking on someone she had deeply cherished and lost only to find him once more in the most unlikely of places.

 

Brus was a very smart young man.  He had spent his life studying everything he could. And for once in his life, he was going to do whatever he had to do to get what he thought he deserved.  He whispered in ears, he told grand stories, he peddled outright lies...all to get every single member of the school to change their mind, so that history would say that they selected Brus first.  They wanted him to face the Titan's Curse.

 

Because surely, their smallest and youngest member, who had seen so much turmoil in his life, who carried their banner into battle, would be seen worthy in the eyes of the Titan's and be given the great gift that would allow them to fall on the victorious side of the strenuous battle that lay ahead.

 

 

Pure of heart.  Pure of soul.  Pure goodness.  Those were the only qualifications for the Titan's Curse.  If you had those three things, you would leave the cave with a Blessing instead of a Curse.  

 

It took everything inside of a person and amplified it.  Made it powerful and strong and dominating over anything and everything else.  One day in the far distant future, it would find a young man, who was all of these good things, plus so much more.  It would turn that young man and his open and loving heart into a savior of the Earth.  It would find a way to bring the Titans to their knees combining powers with a pure love that had been rolling through the centuries, battling with turmoil and pain and injustice.  

 

After all, the Titan's Curse was not a curse against the humans who dared to try to imbibe it.  It was the curse against the Titans who wanted to toy with humanity for the rest of all time.  But Brus was not that pure hearted man and he did not have the pure hearted love that would be needed.  

 

Brus had only one thing.  Anger.

 

And the nature of the serum would bring him anger for the rest of his days.

 

He was a monster.  He watched his fellow teammates, his beloved Xie and his wondrous Prince die at the Solstice, but he wouldn't join them.  He couldn't.  He was now invulnerable, left to immortality and anger and loneliness.  He remained as a monster for ten years after the change, unable to control himself enough to find the man within.  

 

He lived alone in a small, dank cave, hidden from the sun.  Hidden from the air.  His only visitor being Lady Ainfean, who urged him to find his way back to her so that they could begin preparing again.

 

Brus and the monster he had become were both distraught at that idea.  He'd watched ten of his friends be brutally killed, and now the seemingly benevolent Lady Ainfean wanted to find more lambs to bring to the slaughter.  Brus had been making strides for the last decade in bringing the hulking beast he had become to a gentler, calmer place, but at the idea of innocent young ones, for some distant relative of the Prince or Xie to be brought to that arena again only to never be able to return home---

 

Brus snapped and Lady Ainfean was no more.

 

It was hundreds of years before another of the Ainfean family came to find him.  This time, HE was French and went by the name Monsieur Remplifureur.  Brus had hidden the monster for so many years, looking for a way to find a way out, to finally join his friends in the afterlife.  Remplifureur made him a promise.  Come and help bring the next generation to the Games and find a way out.  

 

A man was only supposed to live so long, and the Immortal had lived for far too long past that point.  He was tired.  He was desperate.

 

Remplifureur brought the children in younger, he raised them in the conditions that would give them a fighting chance. 

 

It did nothing to help.  It only made their brutal loss all that more devastating.

 

Brus watched the children die again.  The reincarnated souls of the Prince and Xie perishing first.

 

Another century, another of Lady Ainfean's clan came to him and asked for help again.  This time the children had been marked at birth, their parents a part of a society that would assure compliance.  Yet another echo of the Prince and Xie, this time looking at him through eyes of ten year olds looking to him for guidance and hope and knowledge.

 

Yet another set of children dead at the hands of their counterparts from different factions and the games set forth by the Titans.

 

The monster that lived within him was inconsolable and always angry.  He lamented the loss of the bright beautiful children.  Babies.  They were babies.  Not even two decades old and suddenly the weight of the world was on their shoulders.  Suddenly they had enemies that no man could hope to defeat.

 

The babies called him the Hulk, a term of endearment from one of the children learning English to better talk with their teammates.  His anger was ever present, burning low, but even when he turned into the monster, he never lifted a hand against the children, not even the children on the opposing side.  

 

He'd watched the light leave this new Prince's eyes and swore he would never have anything to do with the Yingley Games again.  A thousand lifetimes of loneliness was better than living through the pain of losing the babies again.  He would do anything not to lose them again.  

 

* * *

 

"It's why when Fury---the great, great, great grand something of Lady Ainfear came to me, Bruce Banner, simple professor," Doctor Banner sighed, poking at the fire with a stick as he sat in front of it, his back to the children assembled in the living room, unable to look at them while he told his tale, told them everything he had done to deserve such an endless fate.  "I didn't tell him no like I promised myself I would.  He told me about Darcy---about how she was new, a variable we'd not seen in the Games before.  A direct descendant of the original powered child combined with the reincarnated soul of the Mind...."

 

"It's like when the DVD Video graphic gets into the corner of the screensaver in a clean shot."

 

Bruce smiled at Clint's explanation.  It was true enough.  It had never happened before, and no one would ever know how difficult it had been to make the stars align for such a thing to happen.  The alarmingly old Bruce Banner. Brus, son of the Banner man of the Clan Arascain. The Immortal.  The Hulk.  All of those things and impossibly more finally turned to look at the children, to gauge their reaction.

 

He couldn't help but laugh as it was Tony who tackled him to the ground in a hug.

 

"That's the saddest story ever, man, like, how have you not turned into a big green killing machine yet?" Tony demanded.

 

"Meditation," Bruce dryly remarked as Tony eventually let up and they both sat up.  Bruce looked to Darcy, giving her a hesitant half smile, looking sheepish.  "The last Mind didn't have a good connection to the original."

 

"Yeah, mine is a lot better," Darcy assured him.  Steve gripped her hand and she felt calm after hearing of Bruce's long life.  "There is no ill feeling towards you Doctor Banner, I promise.  I've always thought of you as a friend."

 

"It was a long time ago," Natasha said thoughtfully, her first words since Bruce had shrunk and promised to tell them what was going on.  If he had been lying, Natasha would have been able to tell and she wouldn't have stayed silent during his tale.  He hadn't been lying at all, not even exaggerating.  If anything he was playing his pain down.  Natasha couldn't even begin to understand how a person lived with that much on them.  She'd turn into a giant green rage monster too.  "A really long time ago."

 

"NO SHIT, seriously?" Scott scoffed.  "It was OVER SIX HUNDRED YEARS AGO."

 

"Which is why Fury is always spouting off about our school being rich in tradition," Bucky rolled his eyes.  

 

"Martinville High!" Sam called out with exaggerated fondness, holding a hand over his heart he sighed, "First High School of the Brave New World!"

 

"Hallways filled with the ghosts of innovation and genius!" Helen chipped in.

 

"The home of the future leaders of the free world," Steve added, his voice much quieter, much more subdued.  He looked to Doctor Banner and looked unsure, an expression that looked out of place on his now chiseled face.  "Should we go back, Doctor Banner?"

 

"That's up to you," Bruce said resolutely, not even mulling over the question a moment.

 

"But---you could live forever and ever and ever and ever if we didn't go to the Solstice and TRY to win, to defeat the Titans," Tony reminded him.

 

"And I'd rather live forever than to see anyone of you perish," Bruce said quietly.  "I promise each and everyone of you that I will protect you."

 

"An adult that actually means it," Natasha said softly.

 

The teenagers mulled that over.  They knew their parents loved them, they did.  But not one of them, save Steve's mother and Darcy's parents who were no longer with them, had done a thing to protect them from their fate.  They had handed them all over to Fury, hoping for at the very least glory.  Every other adult they'd run into in their school careers had been specifically selected in order to groom them for their inevitable future.

 

But the future wasn't so inevitable anymore.  

 

It was totally evitable.

 

"The Solstice brings powers to the three schools?" Jane questioned Thor.

 

"Indeed, Loki and I were told since infancy of the greatness that would await us should we be selected," Thor nodded.

 

"But we already have powers," Bucky wagered.  "So, going to the Solstice, which is essentially just a Battle Royale with the other two schools to scrabble to get powers---"

 

"Is a moot point," Steve finished.  He turned to Cameron and asked hopefully, "You got anything?"

 

"Blank, not a bad death-y kind of blank, just---just warmth and kind of a soft blanket feeling?" Cameron answered.  "Whatever we decide, it's at least a couple days off."

 

"If we don't go to the Solstice, the other two schools will just---murder each other for power?" Helen fretted.

 

"Well, there's only one way to find out what their plans are," Darcy wrinkled her nose, not really liking where her own reasoning was taking her.  

 

"Ugh, no, he's so greasy and gross," Clint whined.  

 

"Clint," Thor warned.  "Do not insult my----"

 

"Sorry big guy," Clint said quickly, seeing Thor get sad at the thought of calling Loki his brother.  "Alright, fine, let's do the interrogation of Loki tomorrow, alright?  Because Big Papi's got a date with two ladies that are waiting patiently upstairs and Big Papi would love to get a little loving, you get me?"

 

"Who is Big Papi?" Jane narrowed her eyes at Clint.  "Because we've all seen you naked, and it's totally not you, Señor Average."

 

"Big Papi is the girls' marital device," Clint grinned.  "And I'd like to go and greet him properly, so everyone else can group cuddle down here..."

 

"Gross," it was Doctor Banner who had huffed out the complaint, causing the teenagers to laugh and add their own condemnation of Clint's behavior.

 

It didn't seem to bother him though as he threw them all backwards peace signs and called out, "You may want some white noise---I'm a squealer, folks.  DEUCES."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a grown up they can trust. Of course its the giant green rage monster. Thank you for reading!


	27. Brother from Another Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE NEVER REALLY WRITTEN LOKI BEFORE. WHAT IS HAPPENING?

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Brother from Another Mother**

 

* * *

 

Once upon a time, there was the story of two brothers, who could not be more different if they tried.  One had golden hair the color of wheat while the other had silky fine strands of inky black.  One found a smile permanently on his face since the moment he learned how to smile in such a way while the other was more likely to sneer and wrinkle his nose.  One enjoyed the simple delights of life: food, games, friendship. 

The other brother, one year younger, would utilize his sneer so often as he stared upon the frivolity of his elder brother, preferring to watch from the outskirts, never fully participating. 

But the brothers had one thing in common.  They loved each other.  Unconditionally, irrevocably, unending.  Thor didn't remember the day Loki was brought home, he had not yet turned one, but he his earliest memory had been at about three or four, and he had climbed out of his own bed to go towards the crib that Loki still slept in on the other side of the large Royal nursery.  Chubby fists had grasped the antique bars of the crib and Thor had smiled in on his little brother, making sure he was covered properly and had his favorite soft toy in his grasp.

He'd check on him nearly every night, afraid that he'd be taken away.  He didn't remember why he had always been so afraid that Loki might disappear in the night.  He'd overheard mother and father arguing, as they were so often doing, something about giving Loki to the Academy immediately to start his training.  Loki didn't belong there after all, or so his father had inexplicably declared.

His mother had always cursed his father's beloved Academy, saying it was rotten from the inside out and her sons would not be attending.  She'd fought with a brilliant rage against Odin, making sure that Loki wouldn't be sent away.  Thor was thankful for it. 

And the arguments eventually ended, and Thor knew his father would watch the boys play together fondly as they grew larger and larger every day.

As they got older, Thor would still sneak out of his bed every night, but Loki soon grew old enough to sneak out as well, and they would meet up on the rocking chair, sitting side by side as they tried to make sense of the complex words of the story books that their mother read to them every night.  Loki learned to read before Thor, but still, even his advanced mind couldn't always make out the ancient texts that had served as fairy tale books for countless generations of Odinsons. 

Thor was nine and Loki was eight when Nick Fury came to visit again.  He had visited many times, being a close friend with Frigga, but this was one of the first times that he had interacted with the boys.  He'd handed them paper and had them write a story, and Thor's had been a fantastical tale, complete with illustrations, regarding a Prince who needed saving and how a clever Princess saved him with all of his ingenious friends. 

Loki had just copied down the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, bored with the man with the eyepatch as soon as he saw them. 

A simple test had decided their fate, despite how Frigga fought for both of her sons.  For what, Thor never knew, until now.

 

* * *

 

"Brother," Thor said softly, walking into the small, ancient and rusty airstream trailer that they had been keeping Loki locked in.  The man in question was laying against a small twin sized bed, his long and gangly legs dangling over the edge.  He had his hands clasped behind his head and was staring out the window at the sunrise. 

"The Immortal came?" Loki questioned.

"How do you know of the Immortal?" Thor wondered. 

"My school is far superior to yours.  Your Furious caretaker lives in secrecy and paints it over everything," Loki smirked, opening up eyes that were decidedly more green than they had been a few days ago.  "Our leaders believe it best to keep things in the open."

' _ He's telling the truth.  Ask him more about his leaders at the Academy _ .'

Thor didn't physically acknowledge the small hearing aid that Tony had rewired and slapped into his ear before he had walked into the trailer.  Natasha was speaking softly to him, guiding him through his investigation. 

"You’ve hurt my friends, Loki," Thor sighed, not following Natasha's advice.

"The Golden Prince and his friends," Loki rolled his eyes.  "Did you ever wonder if you were the Prince of Asgard, worthy of Mjolnir, why you should not also be worthy of the Titan's serum?"

"I never sought out the Titan's Curse," Thor reminded him. 

"That's right," Loki sat up on his bed a little, smirking at his brother.  "You said it was a cheap shortcut, and instead spent days training and running and building muscle."

"It wasn't a waste of time," Thor shrugged.  "My muscles have saved your hide on more than one occasion."

Loki snorted with subdued laughter and focused on his hands as a quiet minute passed between the brothers.  Thor continued to ignore Natasha's prompts for questioning, knowing he would suffer later for defying orders, but he had what Natasha did not. He had the luxury of knowing his brother where his friends did not.  Loki did not need to be questioned, his brother was enough of a fan of his own voice to want to talk on his own. 

"Is your idiot friend alright?  The one who took the serum and lived to tell the tale?" Loki asked quietly, staring out the window, green eyes squinting in the bright, golden sunlight that steadily rose above the horizon.

 

The tales he used to tell Thor when they were younger.  It had filled so many hours full of wondrous delight.

"Steven  is well," Thor acknowledged.  

_ ‘Don’t give him names, you big dumb slab of beef!’ _

 

"Mother always told the story that it was your royal line that was tied to the girl," Loki said softly. 

"Aye, but the lady in question is our cousin, many times removed, but still, she is kin to us both," Thor admitted. 

"To you, she is kin to you," Loki reminded him.

"How long have you known that you weren't my brother by blood, Loki?" Thor wondered.  Loki was silent so Thor shrugged and sighed.  "I never knew.  Nor do I care.  You're still the same person that I used to check on every night, counting your breaths to make sure you were alright and would wake up the next morning ready to take on our small corner of the world with me."

"Odin let it slip after Fury gave us our  _ test _ ," Loki sniffed in distaste.  "A drawing and a story decided the fate of each of us forever."

"I do wish you had been able to come to America with me and attend school with me," Thor said thoughtfully.  "I think you would have gotten along very well with my friends...you know, before you tried to kill them."

Loki laughed out loud at Thor's deadpan delivery, despite himself.  He looked to his brother finally, green eyes staring into crystal clear blue, and he knew that anything he had done wrong, anything he would have done wrong had already been forgiven by Thor.  Because Loki knew, from a very early age, that Thor was  _ better _ .  And he would never admit to it either, making him all that much more noble in a way that even Loki couldn't be disgusted at.

"If I had wanted to kill one of your friends, I would have certainly started with Fandral," Loki said dryly.

' _ Focus on that _ ,' Natasha demanded in Thor's ear, hoping that just once Thor would take her suggestion.

"You didn't wish to harm Steven and Darcy," Thor nodded.  "I had a feeling it was true, that you weren't in your right mind, brother."

"I'm not your brother," Loki reminded him, sounding pained at the thought.

"That's a huge pile of dung, and you damned well know it!"

Loki's eyes went wide and he stared at his brother.  Thor was well known for raucous tales when he'd been too hyper with sugar in his youth, and ale later when it could be appropriated from the proper channels.  But that was theatre, that was performance, and Thor excelled at it in a way Loki did not.  On the other hand, Loki excelled at other performances, where he couldn't make a room full of people laugh and fawn, Loki COULD manipulate an entire room full of people to feel a certain way, but it wasn't happy.

Manipulation, anger, suspicion.  These were the the gifts Loki had been given.  Just as opposite to Thor as their hair color was.  But Thor’s shout hadn’t been his usual dramatics, it had been soaked in anger and grim determination.  For some reason it made Loki feel calm.  

 

"My benefactor at the school, Herr Pierce," Loki said softly. 

Thor knew it was something to hear Natasha take in a breath. 

"Out of all the classmates that had already been with the academy since infancy, those that had their brains twisted into his mold, he focused on me," Loki admitted.  His mouth smirked, but green eyes told a different story.  "It was unpleasant."

"I'm sorry, brother," Thor whispered.

"They knew of all of you, they didn't need to ask me questions about you, so I never had to betray you," Loki said softly.  "Everyone knew, they were certain, that you would be the recipient of the serum.  You would become a  _ God _ ."

"But you knew I would not," Thor nodded.

"I have played enough card games with you to know that you are not for fair play when it comes down to it," Loki shook his head in remembrance.  "I have seen what you will do to a person when you are angered."

"I confess I don't have the temperament for the serum, nor the prerequisite accomplishments," Thor was sly and Loki looked up at him with a roll of his eyes.

"The tiny woman who can travel faster than light?" Loki laughed.  "The Academy elders were very wrong about how your group would pan out, it seems.  But I knew the serum was not for you.  My brother is good, but he is far more interesting than that."

Thor smiled and nodded. 

"You classmates have been trained from infancy?" Thor questioned, finally listening to one of Natasha's suggestions.

"Yes, and Natalia knows that very, VERY well," Loki rolled his eyes.  "Tell her that if she wishes to ask questions, she should do so in person, rather than trying to speak in your ear.  And if you might vouch for me, I might like to tell the story inside by the fire, where it’s warmer."

 

* * *

 

 

Pepper Potts shifted slightly in her seat, needlessly adjusting the collar of the uniform she had to wear.  Principal Fury had called for an all hands on deck meeting, and all the hands had come on deck, forty students along with their various adult supervisors.  Vice Principal Maria Hill stood by the main doors, waiting for Fury to come in.

Hill was currently staring daggers at Coulson, who looked absolutely nonplussed as he sat at the conference table, going through various security reports that had been transcribed from the Alpha group's various adventures.  They didn't have surveillance on them now.  Coulson had deemed it unnecessary, knowing exactly where the group of high school seniors currently were, but unwilling to make a move on them.

' _ They'd been betrayed enough and are running out of places that are safe _ .'

That hadn't pleased Hill too much, and she was stewing that this young man thought he had any authority amongst her troops. 

Because they were her troops.  Pepper knew that.  She admired Vice Principal Hill, because she had taken forty eighteen-year-old children and turned them into a well-oiled machine in less than a week.  Sure, by the end of that week, their counterparts had already had their first galavanting adventure in New York City, but the Beta team had managed to crack every surveillance camera in the city, getting a word for word transcript of what the Alpha team had done along with a lot of visuals pulled off the top secret security grids from the nation's alphabet agencies.

They may not be the ones with super powers, but Pepper's team of people weren't quite anything to sneeze at.

There was one problem though.

"We need to go find the Alpha team and bring them in," Rumlow slapped his hand against the desk, causing all the murmuring to cease. 

"Forgive me, Brock, but you are not in charge here, are you?" Coulson asked lightly, an amused tilt to his lips as he looked up and stared coolly at the hot headed high school boy.

"No, I'm just a guy who has a job to do, we all have a job to do, and we can't very well do it without the Alpha team coming back in house," Rumlow spat out in that obnoxious, sharp way of his.

"He's right!" Rollins agreed, and a small handful of people nodded along.

Pepper knew that they had a point.  They were useless if they didn't have a team to present at the Solstice.  They were the infrastructure for heroes.  Essential support that was erected and made it possible for other people to do what needed to be done.  Pepper had a team of people who could dig up the dirt on any one person in the world, give a five page report on weaknesses and flaws and have it relayed to a member of the Alpha team in a matter of minutes. 

But Rumlow and Rollins had been ruthlessly mocking the Alpha team since day one.  They'd declared them the losers and hadn't stopped harping on how it would be so difficult to make sure they stayed alive until the Solstice.  They should be happy that they were no longer monitoring them, that they'd lost complete contact with them.

Instead, they were insistent that they get the Alpha team back.  Or at the very least visuals on the Alpha team.

It was strange, to be sure.

Pepper shared a look with Sharon Carter as Rumlow and Rollins continued to drum up dissent, with Jasper Sitwell acting as a small cheerleader amongst the rest of the Beta team.  Rhodey was at Pepper's left and drummed his fingertip three times against the conference room table.  Sharon gave Pepper a small nod back and Pepper was about to open her mouth to shut the idiots the hell up when the doors to the conference room slammed open, and Nick Fury strode inside.

He was followed by former Vice Principal Peggy Carter and someone Pepper had met once before, but didn't quite believe was in front of her eyes at the moment.  Rhodey took a slow breath in and Pepper could FEEL Happy Hogun stiffening up behind her. 

Howard Stark had returned.  And he looked worse for the wear, tired and suddenly a little older.  He was far removed from the debonair blip on the radar he had been, patting Tony on the head before rushing off again. 

"Phil Coulson.  I was under the impression that you didn't work here anymore," Fury barked out, taking confident strides to his place at the conference room table before sitting down and staring at Coulson intently.  "You gave me some excuse about conflicts of interest."

"I did," Coulson smiled, light and airy to counteract Fury's scowl.  "I changed my mind and realized that this was probably a little more important at the moment."

"A little?" Fury was the closest to smiling as he had been in decades.

"You can't be in a relationship with a person who is dead, sir," Coulson reasoned.  "So, it would be smart to keep them alive."

Beta team was a lot of things, but one of them was calm and cool in the face of danger.  Let the idiot Alpha team rage and react, when faced with new and interesting information, Beta team didn't overreact.  They hardly reacted.  But Pepper could see Sharon's hand itching to get to a keyboard and find out who Coulson had been romantically involved with.

"And you know where they are?" Peggy questioned.

"I do," Coulson nodded.

"But you're not telling us," Howard guessed.

"Correct, sir," Coulson had that affable, harmless, plain vanilla yogurt smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. 

"Mr. Coulson, you do understand that you stand between me and my legacy?" Fury sighed.  "And I could have this tortured out of you?"

Rumlow and Rollins suddenly sat up a little straighter in their chairs.

"Wouldn't work," Coulson shrugged.  "This is your legacy, the job is what you believe in.  Countless generations of your family have worked up to this moment, so I get why you're desperate to get them back in house."

"But?" Fury prodded.

"But, I don't have a legacy," Coulson smiled, a little more genuine this time.  "I have a belief.  A belief that those kids are more than your legacy.  And I'm going to give them the space to figure that out."

"Banner is with them?" Peggy questioned, her voice a softer thing than anything Hill could have managed. 

"Yes, my contacts have confirmed that," Coulson nodded at her.  "The situation is stable, and I'm sure, that when given the space, those kids will show up for the Solstice.  And they'll be doing it for the right reasons, with conviction and not a sense of duty that will only lead them to their deaths."

"That's very noble of you, Mr. Coulson, but I say we go and get them, and make sure they understand that this is more than their hurt feelings," Sitwell piped up.  "This is an experiment hundreds of years in the making---"

"It isn't an experiment," Fury barked out, shutting up Sitwell handily.  He focused on Coulson only, less  _ furious _ than before, "I want regular reports regarding their safety."

"You'll get them," Coulson promised.  "But sir, I have reason to believe that there are leaks on your Beta team, leading directly to the people at the Academy."

Fury sat up a little straighter at that and his gaze went around the room quickly before settling down on Pepper.

"Sir," she nodded.

"Potts.  Find whoever is endangering my team and bring them to me.  You have a week."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So---I think I can safely say we're coming up on the end of 'book one'. Soon. Ish. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I love every single one of you dearly!


	28. Banner's Bakers Dozen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, but here we go!

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Banner’s Bakers Dozen**

 

* * *

 

"I know what you're doing."

 

"Cooking breakfast for dinner?" Laura Quill smiled up at Natasha as she carefully flipped the eighth batch of french toast before sharing a wink with Darcy, who was helping Bobbi with the massive amount of bacon.  

 

"How'd you get so much money for all the food by the way?" Bobbi questioned Natasha.  Clint's girlfriends had been given a huge stack of unmarked money and been told to go to the nearest bulk grocery store and load up like the end of the world was coming a few days ago.  It helped that they were on a working farm.  

 

Well, the working farm consisted of a lot of egg laying chickens and a few cows along with one small patch of herbal remedies.  But that had not been enough to feed Clint alone, much less Steve, Bucky and Thor.  Clint's girlfriends hadn't questioned the fat wad of cash, especially since Bucky had winked at them on their way out and told them to buy themselves a few nice things too.

 

But both young ladies were not above questioning Natasha's methods, especially since she always seemed to zero in on the off the books things that they did.  

 

"You're feeding Coulson with status checks about the team," Natasha accused, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, checking into the living room where Loki was being led to an armchair, Thor fussing like a mother hen while the rest of the team regarded the dark haired man with suspicion.  

 

"Nat, just drop it," Darcy warned.  "I gave them the okay to give him a thumbs up or a thumbs down emoji every twelve hours.  It's kept him off of our backs."

 

"Fine," Natasha rolled her eyes.  "We're going to need more cash."

 

"Tony still doesn't want to take it from his account," Darcy sighed.  She shrugged, understanding the man's reasoning for not wanting to take money from his father.  

 

"We could ask Phil," Bobbi said softly as she got out the microwavable sausages, the final ten packs and began prepping them on plates.  

 

"I'm willing to ease his mind about our well being, but I'm not going to take a penny that might have been in Fury's pockets," Darcy said resolutely.  

 

Cameron wandered into the kitchen, knocking Natasha in the behind with the swinging door gently.  He turned bright red and started to splutter apologies, but she simply smiled and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.  He turned redder still and looked over at Darcy, who was wrinkling her brow at the interaction between her two friends.  

 

Her focus went to Natasha, who let her mouth pull up and smirk and shrugged ever so slightly.  

 

Darcy's eyes widened at that, not realizing that Bucky nor Natasha would ever move forward on their harmless little crush on Cameron.  She looked to the man in question again and gave him an encouraging smile.

  
  


"Uh, small vision," Cameron revealed.  "Is there a casino nearby?"

 

"Oh hell yes," Laura snorted with laughter.

 

"Guess we'll have more money for bacon," Bobbi shared a no-look high five with her girlfriend before checking on the status of the pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the oven.  

 

"And another couples massage," Darcy rolled her eyes at the girls who she was already incredibly fond of.  She didn't know what Clint had to offer them, and quite frankly didn't want to know.  But both young women were ridiculously devoted to him.  It was sweet really.  "Can we try to talk to Loki before we rob a casino?"

  
  


"He comes along, actually, after dinner.  Breakfast dinner," Cameron revealed.  

 

"Ugh," Natasha huffed out.  While she had not spent any time with Loki at the Academy, having come to America before Loki entered the very old school, she didn't like him on principal.  She had hated her time at the Academy and automatically hated its students on principal.  She turned to Cameron with an almost vulnerable look of protest.  "Does he have to?"

 

"Uhm, he helps," Cameron admitted.  "Sorry?"

 

"It's fine," Natasha rolled her eyes.  "I was looking forward to fun robbery, but now it'll be a chore."

 

"Give him a chance, aside from trying to kill our friends, he doesn't seem so bad," Cameron gave her a gentle smile, his hand going for her bicep and stroking up and down.

 

The sound of a kitchen timer going off and three girls scrambling to hush it immediately had Cameron jumping in place, remembering that they had an audience.  A very rapt and attentive audience, if he wasn't mistaken.

 

"I'll uh---I'll set up the tv tables for the breakfast dinner feast," Cameron stammered out before hightailing it out of the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

 

"This, my brother, is very special.  Little Darcy first made it for me on the second day of my stay in America.  It is worth the travel, indeed.  She could have the world at its knees---here, try it.  Loki, stop being stubborn and eat it."

 

Loki sat on his well worn, but comfortable armchair, his mouth stubbornly closed as Thor barely perched on the arm to his chair, waving a fork with something delicious smelling waving right under his nose.  He glared at the amalgamation of teenagers in the living room, sprawled out on couches and the floor alike, their plates laden down with a truly impressive amount of cholesterol.  

 

They were all stealing looks at the brothers, most of them amused, two of them distrusting, and in the littlest one's case, Darcy, she was staring at them unabashedly, looking like the very definition of bittersweetly happy.  He glared at her, which caused the big, muscled idiot that was holding her to glare back at him as he popped another piece of bacon in his mouth.  

 

"I'm not a child, you don't have to feed me," Loki insisted, but opening his mouth proved detrimental as Thor shoved the bite of cinnamon roll with candied bacon sprinkles right into his mouth.  He nearly choked, but closed his eyes as he rolled the morsel on his tongue and nodded.  "It is very good."

 

"Thank you," Darcy smiled before going back to her own plate of food, creating a sandwich out of french toast, eggs and candied bacon.  

 

"You're welcome," Loki said automatically, earning a glare from Steve.  He looked away and saw that Jane Foster approached, popping right on Thor's lap, making the already shaky equilibrium of the arm chair go haywire for a moment.  

 

"So what kind of assholes did you go to school with?" Jane demanded tactlessly.

 

"Foster," Bucky rolled his eyes as Natasha wrinkled her nose.  Jane's insatiable curiosity made her very bad at interrogation.  It also usually made her pretty incredible when it came to twenty questions.  

 

"What?  If they managed to make this surly son of a bitch do their bidding, then they must be pretty nasty," Jane looked down at Loki, who seemed unimpressed. She stuck out her tongue at him and he snorted at the irreverence.

 

"Natalia hasn't told you?" Loki countered finally.

 

"Natasha doesn't have to tell us anything about her time there, if she doesn't want to," Bucky chimed in.

 

"Yeah, and I don't blame her," Scott put his two cents in, his mouth messy with syrup that he was stubbornly licking at.  "I mean---that Stane guy was a massive douche."

 

"Obediah Stand is the assistant Head Master," Natasha said calmly, pausing to allow Clint and Sam to snort and titter.  She fought a fond smile at her friends' predictable antics.  "And Alexander Pierce is the Head Master."

 

Tony and Helen added their own amused titters at that.

 

"They make Nick Fury look like a fluffy, harmless kitten," Natasha said softly.  "They spent years breaking and remolding children to be ruthless machines."

 

"And one of them is currently eating Darcy's cinnamon roll," Steve muttered, sharing a look with Thor.  The Asgardian was pleading for patience, and Steve could find no reason not to give him it.  Thor, out of all of them, probably deserved a little leeway.

 

"Ruthless machines would be generous," Loki spat out bitterly.  "They are monsters.  Eight brainless monsters, absolutely eager to sink their teeth into everyone of you."

 

"Are you trying to warn us against going to the Solstice?" Steve asked shrewdly, stealing a look at Doctor Banner, who was sitting on the window seat with a plate full of fruit and an egg white omelet.  He was remaining quiet, truly not wanting to influence their decision in any way.

 

"Going to the Solstice would be foolish," Loki laughed.  "Forget about the fact that Pierce and Stane have eight zombies who could destroy you without powers.  Forget about the fact that they have a monster with the surname Doom, whose mind is so warped he actually believes genocide would be a favor to the world.  Forget Lesher and Hammer and Belova.  Forget that one of the little bastards is descended from Johann Schmidt."

 

Natasha seemed to grow more tense with every name that Loki stated.  

 

"Ugh, that guy’s the worst!" Scott shivered.  "Tried to get me to steal Barnes instead of the stone."

 

"Wait-what?" Darcy demanded.

 

"Said he'd be the best steal out of the crew, without him your team wouldn't have the strength," Scott recounted.  "First off, I can't steal a person, that's kidnapping and that's not my forte.  Second off, that freak would have tried to fry his brain and make him one of this personal slaves."

 

"Thanks for not stealing me, then," Bucky swallowed nervously, sharing a look with Natasha.  She gave him a small, encouraging smile, promising a lot in that little gesture.  She knew where his fears were regarding the things he was now capable of.

 

"Even without all of that, you wouldn't be able to make it ten minutes into the Solstice, once they received their powers," Loki continued.

 

"Hey, we're pretty awesome, dude," Sam interrupted.  "I mean, I can fucking fly.  Jane can dissociate every cell of her body and make it reappear in a completely different hemisphere if she wanted."

 

"You were paying attention!" Jane grinned and gave Sam a thumbs up.

 

"Yes, it's very impressive you all received a preview, but believe me when the Academy's eight receive their powers, you will be at a disadvantage," Loki sighed.  "Not to mention that we don't know anything about what's going on at the School for the Gifted."

 

"What's that?" Tony asked seriously.  "Because---duh, I'm gifted, why didn't I get to go there?"

 

"Are you really complaining?" Helen asked incredulously.  

 

"I'm just saying, out of all of us, I'm clearly the most gifted," Tony insisted, glaring at Jane when she snorted derisively.  

 

"Do we have any information about the third school?" Steve looked to Bruce.

 

"While the Academy has always leaned towards more harsh methods of education," Bruce said as delicately as he could.  "And Fury's School has always been sort of---freeform and---"

 

"Easy and not nearly disciplined enough," Loki finished.

 

"Xavier's School for the Gifted has focused on something the opposite, but entirely the same as the Academy, when it boils down to it," Bruce explained.  "The Academy forces children to boil themselves down to their truest most powerful traits.  Cruelty, or maliciousness, or the ability to withstand pain.  Xavier's will focus on a single trait, but the reward system is a little sweeter than torture and pain.  Still the same outcome, trying to force the child into a power they might inherit someday, to turn them into a killing machine a little earlier."

 

"Jesus," Clint blew out a breath.  "Who knew Fury was the fluffy kitten in this scenario, cause I didn't."

 

"It's a mistake to try and force a person into a box," Bruce wagered.  He gestured to himself and shrugged, "Time has shown that when you try to cheat the system, it doesn't work out well."

 

"Alright, here's what we need," Steve cut in before their teacher could cut himself down any further.  Steve pointed a forkful of french toast at Loki.  "I want a detailed write up of the Academy's Eight.  Work with Scott and Natasha.  I want strengths, weaknesses, sleeping habits, everything you can remember."

 

"I don't work for you," Loki sneered at him.

 

"Loki," Thor scolded.  "Cousin Darcy could force you to help, but I would prefer that not happening.  You've been forced to do enough."

 

"Fine," Loki wrinkled his nose like a petulant child.

 

"The rest of us need to work on a way to get an eye into the Academy.  We need to know what they have," Steve concluded.

 

"So---the Solstice, we're doing this?" Sam wondered.  

 

"If we are doing it, we're going to be prepared," Steve advised.  "We have a few weeks to make an informed decision, so long as Bobbi and Laura don't mind us trespassing on their hospitality."

 

"I'm all for the company," Laura smiled.  "One problem though."

 

"What is it?" Steve shrugged.

 

"We're kind of going to need that money problem addressed sooner rather than later, because you're kind of an expensive bunch to feed up," Laura said delicately.  

 

"Oh, right," Cameron nodded, as if remembering.  "So---who wants to rob a casino?"

  
  


He was not surprised when everyone's hand shot up except for Steve and Loki's.  Darcy seemed to be the most eager of group, actually.

 

"Cool, uhm...Scott, want to take the lead on this one?" Cameron wondered.

 

"FINALLY!" Scott stood up and did a little gracious bow.  "It's Scottie's time to shine.  First off, I'm gonna call in backup, because you all suck.  Second off, someone lend me their phone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this part will be ending soon, and then I'm going to take a nice long break from writing this until the second part. About two more chapters, probably. : )
> 
> I'm sort of setting up the second book here, with the other two schools and how our crew discovers them and stuff and has adventures, and of course, the long awaited Winter Solstice. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading!!


	29. A Little Something Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More insanity...

**Chapter Twenty Nine: A Little Something Missing**

 

* * *

 

  
  


When Bruce Banner looked at the young people leaving the farm, he had said just a few words to Steve Rogers, the defacto leader of rambunctious group of super powered teenagers that were all eager to get out in the world and do damage.  

 

'Be careful, please?  The Big guy---you don't want him on a rampage to protect his babies.'

 

And no, Steve didn't want to see what the big, green, angry behemoth would do if they couldn't accomplish their goals without capture or injury.  Steve himself didn't really like this idea very much.  The plan, although well thought out, seemed off somehow in a way that Steve couldn't quite place.  As Jane and Tony bickered over who would get to drive the mini-van that Bobbi had procured for them, Steve couldn't help but feel that something very vital was missing.

 

"You're being itchy, stop being itchy," Darcy said softly as they held hands in the back seat of the mini-van, surveying the rest of their friends that had crammed in.  Even Loki was uncomfortably sandwiched in between Thor and Clint.  Cameron was in the next row of seats wedged between Natasha and Bucky and Steve kept tapping him on the shoulder.

 

"I didn't see anything bad yet, dude, CHILL," Cameron sighed, then immediately froze up.

 

"You forgot that Steve is no longer smaller than you, didn't you?" Bucky whispered near Cam's ear.

 

"I once accidentally knocked him over in the hallway," Cameron admitted uncomfortably.  "It's really strange to remember he can knock me out now, if he wanted to."

 

"He won't," Natasha promised him.  "He's still got that heart of gold beating in the giant chest."

 

"I'm really not seeing anything, and that's super weird," Cameron sighed.  "I usually see stuff.  Even something mundane, but there's nothing there."

 

"Don't worry, Cam, we'll be okay," Bucky assured him while Natasha very carefully patted the smaller man's knee, keeping things platonic, less they make him uncomfortable.  

 

"I don't like it," Steve said from just behind them.  

 

"You had your chance to sit between us, Rogers," Natasha reminded him.  "You chose to double date in the backseat with Birdboy and the Asian Doc McStuffins."

 

"Racist," Helen scolded.

 

"I didn't mean your incorrigible flirting with Cam, you perverts," Steve huffed out.  "Something feels off."

  
  


"I'm not seeing death and destruction," Cameron reminded him.  Again.  For the billionth time.

 

"Really, Steven, relax," Darcy cuddled in close to him.  "I don't feel that anything is off.  We go in, we do the thing, we get enough money to be self sufficient.  Boom.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

 

"Car sex him!" Clint ordered.

 

"You disgusting son of a bitch," Sam shouted back.  "Don't give them ideas!"

 

"We're not some kind of animals, Jesus," Steve rolled his eyes, although he did relax some while Darcy cuddled in close to him, her hand rubbing up and down his stomach soothingly, just as she had used to when they were toddlers and he got a stomach ache (it was often).

 

Loki sighed heavily and his posture visibly drooped into more of a slump of defeat.  Clint looked at him with narrowed eyes and demanded, "What's got your evil panties in a bunch, Snape Junior?"

 

"Barton, be kind," Thor said with patience.  

 

"I am being kind, I'm asking your weirdo brother what's got him sighing and drooping like the world's darkest dandelion," Clint promised.  He leaned forward around Loki's slumped form and threw Thor a wink.  "You know I'd do anything for you, big guy."

 

"Barton!" Jane snapped from behind the driver's wheel.  "We discussed this.  At length.  Thor is not interested in becoming a part of your polyamorous harem."

 

"I'd take you on too," Clint promised the diminutive firecracker currently speeding them along the highway at about twenty miles over the limit.  "Bobbi and Laura think you're real cute and sassy."

 

Jane seemed to consider that seriously for a moment, because even if she thought Clint was an absolute troll, Bobbi and Laura were smoking hot and super nice to boot.  

 

"Foster.  No," Tony implored from the passenger seat.

 

Jane shook herself out of it and pointed back at Clint with a menacing pair of fingers, before pointing them at her eyes and then back at Clint.  

 

"Watching you," she said needlessly.  "Skanky perv."

 

"I like being watched," Clint winked at her obnoxiously.

 

"I simply cannot fathom how you have all managed to co-exist for so many years and then---even after, you found ways to travel the Earth, take on the Titan's Curse, gain powers months ahead of the Solstice and escape from all of your adult caretakers," Loki's rant might have started as a mutter, but got louder with each word, drawing everyone's attention to him.  "You outwitted Heimdall, who is the most brilliantly capable man that my mother has in her arsenal, and yet you sit here arguing about physical relations and what kind of jelly is best."

 

"Strawberry," Sam insisted easily, as if it were a no brainer.

 

Scott suddenly appeared larger, squashing in the seat next to Tony and pointed a finger back at Wilson in warning.

 

"You keep your heathen mouth shut," Scott hissed out with more vitriol than the man ususally had.  "Grape is the only jelly acceptable under the eyes of the God---the Gods?  Do we know the answer to this yet?  Like are we going with a sort of Greek or Roman style of god worship or are we sticking to our guns that there is only one, because I don't care either way, I just need to know what we're doing."

 

"I believe in many gods!" Thor admitted.  "Our culture is rich in Norse tradition---"

 

"My mom would whoop me if I believed in more than one God," Bucky hedged.  "Unless you mean like the trilogy."

 

"Not Star Wars," Natasha pointed a stern finger of warning as Scott tried to open his mouth.  She then turned to Helen and shook her head, "Not Indiana Jones either."

 

"You mean the Holy Trinity?" Sam offered hopefully.

 

"Nah, Mom does weird religion where we don't gotta go to church, but they call the stuff jacked up names," Bucky shrugged.  "Trilogy.  The Ultimate Trilogy.  The Mother, the Moon and the ever returning spirit."

 

"Weird," Scott accused with a smile.  He glared at Sam once more.  "Grape is the superior jelly."

 

"I like orange marmalade," Jane revealed.  

 

"DISGUSTING!" Scott shrieked at the top of his lungs, causing Jane to jump in her seat.

 

The car swerved, and although it wasn't a jam packed road, they did happen to nearly clip a car on the opposite side of the two lane 'highway'.  Jane got it under control quickly though and glared at Scott.  

 

"Shrink back down, Lang," Clint warned.  "She's gonna blow."

 

"Just cause I can shrink down, doesn't mean I always want to," Scott huffed out in annoyance.  "I mean, I can't talk to you guys that way, you don't hear all my hilarious one-liners, and then you think fucking Barton is funnier than me, and that's just not true."

 

"You're funny?" Bucky deadpanned.

 

"Rude," Scott winced.  "Wait until my crew meets us at the casino, you'll see.  I'm hilarious and they love me."

 

Steve wrinkled his nose and wriggled in his seat and under Darcy's hold.  She looked up at him in concern and kissed the side of his neck.  She had tried to ascertain where Steve's worry was generating from through their mental bond, but for the life of her she couldn't see it.  Something was missing from Steve's head, just a small thing, but important nonetheless.  It was making him increasingly more uncomfortable and there wasn't anything she could do to make it better.

 

It was a foreign feeling for Darcy, who had been making Steve feel better since they were very, very young.  It was something that she and Bucky excelled at, really.  Their best friend turned to give Steve a look of questioning, as if asking whether or not they should actually go through with the whole, casino heist thing they had planned.  

 

"We're going to be fine," Darcy promised.  

 

"We are," Bucky echoed.  "I mean, look at this, our senior year, we've gotten into much worse and managed to find our way out."

 

"Yeah," Steve sighed, still unable to shake that feeling of wrongness.  "Yeah."

 

The sounds of sirens behind them, loud and clear and so very unwelcome had every last occupant of the van jumping into a state of shaky alertness.  

 

"Shit, it's the fuzz," Scott squeaked out before shrinking down immediately to hide.  

 

"Uhm---Darcy-loo?  Maybe you want to come up here and switch with Tony?" Jane wondered hopefully.  "Put a little mind voodoo on the state troopers that just caught me going thirty miles an hour over the speed limit in a car with no working seat belts?  Just---just a thought."

 

* * *

 

 

Pepper Potts was ready to wage a months long campaign in order to flush out the Academy moles from her Beta team.  She had spent twelve hours reorganizing her life for it, had made multiple strategies and drafted countless campaigns, she'd set aside funding and gotten her roster of trusted people ready to bring the suspects down.

 

Pepper had never been one for violence.  Neither had the rest of Tony's inner circle of friends who had been witness to him growing up.  Rhodey, Happy and Pepper were blessedly violence free, which seemed to be something a younger Tony craved in people that were close to him.  But what they lacked in violence, they made up for in other areas and pockets of their life.  

 

Rhodey was ridiculously clever, a born engineer.  He might not have that Stark genius running through his brain, but what he did have was a streak of common sense threaded through his own genius.  If it had not been for Rhodey's good sense, Tony would have surely blown himself up by now.  

 

Happy was nicknamed such for a reason, but he also had a way of grounding Tony with a well placed quip or mostly congenial complaint.  He was a buffer, not only for Tony, but for everyone he met.  You couldn't be too angry with Happy around.  There were many times Pepper had used his own 'super power' to chill and soothe upset feelings on the Beta team.  

 

And then there was Pepper.  Pepper used her brains and her saavy and her ability to face anything with a cool facade, even if she was losing it on the inside.  Fury and Hill had handed her the keys and control of thirty-odd classmates and was told she had one mission and objective for her senior year of high school.  

 

Keep Alpha team alive.

 

And she'd done a bangup job since then.  She'd considered it a compliment from Fury when he'd complained that there had not been any other Alpha team that had gone so off the rails.  They had gone off the rails, and up until this last jump from Asgard to parts unknown, Pepper had kept them alive.  

 

Behind the scenes, she'd directed her team to shift the focus of authorities, move surveillance cameras to blind areas, clear up international travel snafus and a nearly decimated island in the Carribean.  And the Alpha team had never been wise to it, not once.

 

Pepper was built for such things.

 

She was ready to wage her own personal brand of war against the traitors on Beta Team.

 

But then a helicopter landed on campus and Sitwell wet his pants when the man exited and stalked into the building that housed Fury's office.  

 

"Happy?" Pepper turned to her long time friend, barely remembering a time when she hadn't called the man in question one of the most important people in her life.  "I'm going to need you to grab some supplies for our guest."

 

"Can do, boss," Happy waved his acknowledgement before stalking away, grabbing Sitwell by the collar at the last minute and stalking off, pointing at a few of the stronger heavy hitters on his way out of the War room.

 

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Pepper called after Happy, which only seemed to make Sitwell shake more in fear.  She turned back to her command center and smiled when she saw that Rhodey didn't need to be prompted, he just set up shop with a toolbox in one of the closets in a room next to Fury's office.

 

The surveillance of her friend showed that he was accessing a hidden panel and set up a few items that automatically fed the audio to Pepper's screen.  Sharon Carter came to stand next to the 'boss' and both women watched as the surveillance of Rhodey was quickly replaced with that of a small pen camera that was looking in on Fury and the newly arrived guest.

 

"Have I told you lately that your inability to trust old people is really very commendable?" Sharon wondered.

 

"I can never hear it enough," Pepper shrugged.  "Your Aunt was the one to teach us."

 

"Trust no one but each other," Sharon nodded, remembering her Aunt, the acting Vice Principal visiting them when they were tiny children in grade school.  They'd already set their hard and fast cliques by then.  Darcy and her crew of misfits were always off to the side and had barely paid attention to the high school vice principal's words as they had their own miniature dramas and adventures going on.

 

But Sharon had listened.  And Pepper had obviously listened too.  

 

Not even Nick Fury and his endless secret world was safe from Pepper Potts.  

* * *

 

 

"Headmaster Pierce, it's a surprise to see you here," Fury gave a barely courteous head nod to the man who he had met at a very young age, and had once thought might be a friend.  A partner.  Someone to help him run the school that had been the culmination of Fury's ancestor's lives.

 

And then Pierce accepted a job at the Academy and he and Fury hadn't quite been able to forgive him.

 

"Really?  I should think it would seem like a normal reaction," Pierce gave Fury that condescending smile of a well-oiled politician.  "I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted to see Stane after you had your little pack of helicopter parents chase him off the island a few years ago."

 

"I would hardly call Howard Stark a helicopter parent," Fury stated dryly.  "What can I do for you, Headmaster Pierce?"

 

"I would like my student returned, we have a strong belief that Loki Odinson has been taken in by your team of---well, your team," Pierce condescended graciously.  

 

"The reports from Asgard show that your boy attempted to murder one of my students," Fury turned his head to the side.  

 

"Asgard's opinion these days doesn't hold much weight.  They aren't exactly impartial."

 

"I assure you that that the surveillance recordings that I have are very impartial," Fury bluffed as easily as he was breathing.

 

He would never show Pierce those recordings.  Not with all of the kids' powers on full display.

 

Not with Darcy Lewis on full display.

  
  


"Where is your team, Fury?" Pierce sighed.  "Do you even know?"

 

"They currently have the best bodyguard that the world has ever known," Fury smirked.

 

Pierce swallowed at that.  The Immortal was not a monster that the Academy wanted to tangle with.  They'd learned their lessons on that subject centuries ago.  The Academy headmaster recovered quickly and leaned forward in his seat, his chin balanced on one fist.

 

"Are you sure they haven't wandered off from him yet?"

  
  


* * *

 

Pepper's eyes widened and she stood up from her desk.  She looked around at the fifteen or so students currently on staff.  She took a deep breath before pointing at the logistics specialist who doubled in scheduling and logistics.

 

"Gather everyone.  Now. Get everyone on chatter, right now.  Midwest states, farm areas.  State Police radios," Pepper demanded.  She turned back to her command center and watched the men posture in front of each other.  She had no time for that.

 

No one on Alpha team, not even Doctor Banner, could actually understand everything that Beta team had been doing to keep them safe and out of the public eye.  They couldn't just wander around outside and plan adventures.  They needed what Pepper's team had to offer, whether they were aware of it or not.  They had their mysterious mission handed down to them from nebulous God-like powers centuries prior.

 

And Pepper had a mission as well.  She had to save those reckless idiots from destroying themselves.  Accidentally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When will the insanity stop ? 
> 
> Sidenote: I love beta team minus it's pants wetting traitors.


	30. Wild Card

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys. whew. This is a strange one.

**Chapter Thirty: Wild Card**

 

* * *

 

"C'mon people, can you give me anything?!?" Pepper demanded of the room that was fully staffed with Beta team members.  Security was unnecessary, thankfully, and Sitwell had not been invited, but there were currently seventeen teenagers working as hard as they possibly could while Pepper stood at the helm, looking over dozens of things at once.

 

Coulson walked in with a curious smile and took a few seconds to watch some of his favorite students doing their work.  Pepper was his all time favorite (it wasn't even close), but there was also Sharon Carter,and the hivemind that was Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons/Daisy Johnson all working on the same computer at break neck speed.  Coulson's favorite people had always been beta team.  They were the ones that got the job done.

 

"Trip, give me something!" Pepper asked hopefully as she clicked through all the flagged police reports they'd gotten in the past half hour.  

 

"I got Stark's cellphone pinging from the middle of the Caribbean," Antoine Triplett revealed with a sigh.  "He's the only one giving off  a signal, if they have a cell phone on them now, we don't know the number."

 

"Page?" Pepper turned to another bank of computers.

 

"Going through all of Clint's friends who used to go to the school, tracking them down on facebook," Karenn Page reported tersely.  "Sending names to Tripp and Carter to see if we can track credit summaries for cell phone purchases."

 

"Faster," Pepper nodded, making the one word sound encouraging.  She looked up and caught Coulson smiling at her encouragingly at the door.  "You got anything, Phil?"

 

"Look up Laura Quill," Phil advised.

 

"No way he hooked up with Laura Quill," Sharon Carter gasped from another computer with four students working tirelessly at it.  "She has better taste than that!"

 

"He has his charms," Phil smirked.  

 

"Aside from his ability to pick his nose with a chop stick?" Daisy rolled her eyes.

 

"Dexterity is important," Phil shrugged.  

 

"She withdrew cash from a savings account from an ATM next to a Best Buy three days ago," Carter called out.  

 

"Downloading the store records," Karen automatically announced.

 

"Potts, you got anything?" Claire Temple asked from the road.  She was a small team of emergency certified miracle workers that had been waiting for the Solstice to be useful.  Now, maybe was the time to shine a little earlier.  They wouldn't know what kind of state the Alpha team would be in when they found them eventually. "Rhodey needs to know what direction he should pilot the puddle jumper in."

 

"Keep going West," Pepper guessed.  "I know Laura Quill's family is from the Mid-West."

  
  


"Pinging all the phones paid for in cash!" Tripp announced.  

 

"You can't hide from me, you Alpha team idiots," Pepper smiled.  "I'm going to make sure you don't destroy yourselves without me, whether you like it or not."

 

* * *

 

 

"Oh hey!" Darcy waved cheerfully.  "We were speeding.  I mean, I know we were speeding."

 

"This is not a valid license," the state trooper looked down at the chinese takeout menu and absolutely valid New York State driving permit that was expired by two years.  

 

"Yeah, I know," Darcy nodded, hunched over next to Jane in the driver’s seat.  "Maybe we can just, go on our way? Now, please?"

 

"Get angrier," Natasha whispered from her seat.  She looked back at Steve and gestured with her eyes at Darcy.  Poor Steve could only shrug helplessly back at her.  Her words were so quiet that it was basically as if her mouth was just moving, "He'll listen to her if she gets angrier at him."

 

"NOPE," Cameron yelled, shaking in his seat violently with the force of a vision.  "No yelling!!"

 

"Cam,  _ you  _ just yelled," Bucky whispered.

 

"Is there a problem back there?" the state trooper demanded, taking a step back from the vehicle, his hand on his gun.

 

"Shit, shit, shit," Cameron winced.  

 

"Now?  NOW you get a vision?" Sam grumbled.  "A week without a vision, and now you get a vision when we're pulled over by the cops. In the freaking Mid-West.  I’d like to remind everyone, that it’s not always great, in fact, it’s pretty shitty, when I’m pulled over by cops  _ anywhere _ .”

 

"Don't let her yell, don't let her yell," Cameron muttered.  "Everyone stay still."

 

"I'm going to have to ask everyone to exit the vehicle," the trooper demanded as more sirens approached as backup.

 

"What do we do?" Tony asked with some volume and sass coloring his voice.  Police weren't exactly his favorite authority figure.  Unless it was a lady cop, then cuff him.  "Get out or stay still?"

 

"Out of the vehicle with your hands on your head!" The officer said sternly.

 

"We're not drunk!" Darcy promised, more than a little terrified.  "Just---get in your car and go away."

 

"Young lady, I'm going to respectfully ask that you not try and tell me what to do," the state trooper barked back.  "Everyone out of the vehicle with your hands in the air."

 

"It's not working, it's not working, why isn't it working?" Darcy demanded of Jane and Tony in the front seat.

 

"Angrier!" Natasha ordered.

 

"DON'T!" Cameron practically screamed, unable to verbalize his vision as he shivered.  He turned into Bucky and put his head right in his chest, shaking back and forth.  "Don't yell, don't get mad, just---just---"  

 

"We have to do something!" Helen pointed out as Clint carefully opened the sliding door to the van and walked out with his hands above his head to stand where the trooper had his gun pointed and ready.  

 

Five cars threw gravel up in the air as they arrived, now eleven cops had guns trained on them as the teenagers exited the van with their hands in the air.  Darcy waited until Steve got to the door and she stepped forward and shrugged, not knowing exactly what to do.

 

"What did Cam see?" she whispered.

 

"He was crying, it couldn't of been good," Steve murmured.  "Sparky, stay close."

 

"Yeah," Darcy nodded, holding out her hand for Steve.

 

The blue light sparked between their skin without any other impetus from either of them and it moved, not in the frenetic, wild way it had moved back in Asgard, but this was slow and deliberate, moving backwards into the van where Loki had sat silent and smirking ever since the sirens and lights had started to go off.

 

"What is it doing, what is it doing, what is it doing?" Clint hissed out as the light meandered past him and went straight to Loki, wavering in front of him before hitting him square in the middle of his eyes.  "Oh  _ shitballs _ ."

 

* * *

 

"Pepp, I got eyes on them."

 

Pepper took a deep breath at Rhodey's proclamation over the speakers in the war room.  He'd been flying westward with Claire on board for the better part of three hours now, once the surveillance had been pulled up showing Laura Quill purchasing a burner phone, they tracked the serial number through store records.  It was easy pickings from there as Triplett got a lock on it by pinging it.  

 

Alpha team had been stopped in their tracks on the border between Iowa and Illinois, ten miles away from a casino.  

 

"You have GOT to be shitting me," Rhodey sighed.

 

Pepper recognized that sigh.  It was a sigh that belonged to a close cohort of Tony Stark.  It was usually accompanied with the smell of burnt rubber and the smoke of something recently exploded and then very quickly extinguished.  Pepper had given that sigh quite a few times in the past few years.  Now, she closed her eyes and counted very quickly and evenly to ten before opening her eyes and asking as patiently as she could,

 

"What do you see, Rhodey?"

 

"They're surrounded by state troopers.  We can see cops heading towards them from all directions," the reply came.  

 

The room went into a flurry, the mission of finding the Alpha team quickly and seamlessly being replaced with the mission of SAVING the Alpha team from themselves.  

 

"It’s a no go on diverting the authorities, it's too late," Sharon announced.

 

"What are we looking at?" Pepper wondered, baffled at how they could have gotten into such large scale trouble in such a short period of time.  They were now getting video from the plane Rhodey had hovering above the scene, and nothing appeared to be on fire.  Had it not been for the cops everywhere, she might have counted that as a win.

 

"Speeding?" Sharon came back, confusion in her tone too.  "Hold on, they matched a description of someone in the car---Loki Odinson?"

 

"Holy crap, this dude is on like, all of the international agencies, most wanted.  Like THE most wanted man in the world right now," Daisy chimed in.

 

"Odinson, like, Thor's brother?" Rhodey questioned over the communication channels.  

 

"Get me everything you can on him," Pepper ordered.  "Who is looking for him and why?"

 

"The answer would be, that I'm looking for him, young lady."

 

Headmaster Alexander Pierce strolled through the room with a pleasant, neutral smile on his face, it faltering only once as he glanced at Phil.  He turned back to Pepper and couldn't hide his condescension as he explained,

 

"He is one of my most valuable students, and he was kidnapped from his home in Asgard.  More specifically, he was taken by former students of this school."

 

"Pepp?" Rhodey questioned.

 

"I'm afraid you're speaking to the wrong person regarding concerns of former students," Pepper said, cool as you please as she stared directly into the face of Alexander Pierce, a man whose mere presence had caused Sitwell to wet himself.  She was not to be kowtowed as the much older man squinted in suspicion at her.  "I'm just the head of this senior project.  You'll have to speak to Principal Fury or Vice Principal Hill about your concerns."

 

"Pepper," Rhodey repeated.  

 

"Oh, Miss Potts, we know who is really in charge here," Headmaster Pierce smiled, the expression not quite making it to his eyes.  "It's a shame that your family never took the Academy's offer all those generations ago.  You would have made a fine candidate for the Solstice, and here Fury has you pushing paper."

 

"I'm perfectly content with my situation in life, Headmaster Pierce," Pepper assured him, her smile placid and terrifying.

 

"Pepp, for christ sake's, it's going south down there!"

 

Pepper and Headmaster Pierce both turned to the monitors, and sure enough, it was going south very quickly.  Loki was being manhandled to the ground by multiple officers, and Thor had a hand raised to the sky, a large and formidable old fashioned hammer tore off the passenger side door to the van and connected with his formidable fist.  

 

A lot of really amazing things happened all at once, their scope and scale not in the least diminished by the quality of the bird's eye view camera angle that Rhodey was transmitting back to the war room.  Lightning illuminated everything, and when it cleared, both Bucky and Natasha were in motion, fists, feet,  _ bodies  _ flying around, disarming and disabling grown men in seconds.  

 

Steve and Thor charged forward seconds after Bucky and Natasha, Steve bodily tackling disarmed officers to the ground, Thor, smashing relentlessly with the hammer as he moved steadily towards Loki on the ground.  Sam lifted off the ground and  _ remained there _ , grabbing Clint and bringing him back towards the back of the van, where Jane had just magically APPEARED as she opened the back and tossed Clint a bow and a freaking arrow.  

 

Darcy ran to Jane and grabbed a large shield, tossing it to Helen who tossed it to Sam who tossed it to Steve finally, and he was no longer using a meaty forearm to clothesline bum rushing officers, but a seemingly indestructible metal circle.  

 

Tony had his hands up in the air, and it appeared that electronic devices were lifting OUT of the pockets of the officers, going towards him where he immediately took cover in the van as he began moving the electronics with gestures of his hands, then tossing them out to Jane and Darcy, who would throw them to Clint and Sam as he swooped around.

 

"Rhodey, evasive maneuvers!" Pepper shouted.

 

Because Clint was shooting actual arrows at an oncoming police helicopter AND the plane that Rhodey was hovering from above.   Pepper knew that the camera would be disabled and tried to get one last clear look at the melee on the ground.  Someone had grown from nothing into a full grown man behind one of the officers, and instead of doing any violence or damage, he was simply yanking officers pants completely down to the ground before shrinking into nothing.

 

It made Bucky and Natasha's job easier as they pounded on the incapacitated men with really poetic, beautiful violence.

 

On his knees in front of the van door, his head in his hands and trembling like a leaf was poor Cameron, looking out of place amongst all the turmoil.  Helen approached, her hands glowing, as he was screaming out  _ something  _ unintelligible,  desperate and scared.  

 

"Dear God," Alexander Pierce breathed out, watching the scene unfold.  He had prepared his whole life for the Winter Solstice, to see powers that his ancestors had described to him.  But this was the first time he'd glimpsed them.  

 

They were magnificent.  And many of them didn’t fit in the typical modes that they had studied at all.

 

And he needed to make sure his school was on even footing, whatever the cost.

 

Clint's first arrow missed the surveillance thanks to some fancy piloting from Rhodey, but Sam, who was FLYING, was more resilient than an arrow and managed to zoom first towards the police helicopter, his hands holding something that Tony had given him, slapping it on the vehicle's belly before flying away.  Tony popped out of the van and pointed to the sky, his face looking like he was thinking very hard, and there was a minor explosion in the sky, forcing the police helicopter down.

 

"Pepp?" Rhodey questioned, seeing that Sam was coming for him next.

 

"Open the speakers," Pepper asked.  Sure enough Sam approached Rhodey's aircraft with a cobbled together Tony Stark explosive and was about to put it on the bottom of the plane.  "Sam!  Sam, it's Pepper Potts, don't do it."

 

"Pepper?" Sam questioned, his voice a loud scream to be heard, flying from underneath the plane and staring into the cockpit for the first time.  "Rhodey!  Hey man!  How've you been!"

 

"Peachy, don't explode me!" Rhodey demanded.

 

"Oh, right, shit, sorry," Sam nodded, looking a little sheepish.  He wavered in the sky a bit, looking like the energy had been sapped from him for a moment.  "Oh crap.  Darcy-loo, what're you doing?"

 

Pepper watched as Sam slowly made his way to the ground, and the rest of the fighters of Alpha Team looked similarly drained.  The camera footage wasn't the most hi-def of cameras, but Pepper could see that Darcy, little Darcy Lewis, someone who Pepper had still be hoping had been a mistake of Alpha team, and would join the superior Beta team, was glowing.

 

Steve was laying unconscious in the middle of the 'battlefield', and Darcy was glowing, brighter and brighter and brighter.  Even as Helen darted out bravely and put her own weakly glowing hands on Steve's midsection, which had been bleeding ominously.  Pepper wondered when she'd missed the shot, having been distracted by Sam and his sky antics.  

 

"What is this?" Alexander Pierce stepped forward, his breath hitching at the sight of Darcy as she kept walking towards Steve.  She was glowing brighter and brighter, making everyone but Pierce blink against the harshness.  

 

"CUT THE FEED!" Pepper shouted.  "Rhodey get out of there!"

 

He did, the feed not going out, but the aircraft moved away very quickly.

 

"Who is that?" Pierce demanded.  

 

Pepper remained silent, watching the screen as the light grew so bright that it eclipsed everything else.  It looked like a nuclear explosion, and a few silent, tense minutes later, once the light receded, it looked like a bomb had gone off, and the only thing remaining was the vehicles and unconscious bodies of the police that had tried to obtain the teens.

 

Pierce seemed to understand that he would get nothing from any of the people in the room and nodded curtly before stomping out.  Pepper finally took a deep, shaky breath and looked to Coulson, who was just as stunned as everyone else.

 

"Are they alright?" she wondered. "Rhodey?"

 

"Okay---this is---this is weird," Rhodey whispered, and the feed was maneuvered away from the site of the fight, nearly five miles down the road already was the van, trundling towards the casino.  "What the hell---what the hell was that?"

 

* * *

 

 

_ Moments ago _

 

"What is this?" Tony demanded as all the people with guns pointed at them appeared to be stuck in a fog, a literal white, thick fog that was building all around them, and emanating from Loki of all people as he stepped forward from the van.

 

"We don't have long," Darcy advised.  She ran to the back of the van and opened it up.  "Tony, we need something to take out the surveillance of the plane up there."

 

"No---no we don't," Steve disagreed slightly, looking up at the plane and feeling for the first time all day that something was complete.  "They should be here."

 

No one paid attention to the little tense moment between Steve and Darcy, because the fog was showing some interesting things.  In the corners of it, they could see themselves, doing very different things.  Bucky and Natasha were physically decimating police officers, Thor was calling lightning.  Sam was zooming here and there.  

 

"STOP!" Cameron shouted.  "STOP IT!"

 

"Cam," Natasha breathed out, rushing for him and crouching in front of him as he shook and cried and screamed on the ground.  

 

"It's the illusion," Loki said with surprising softness.  "He can't determine what is real and what is false because of the illusion."

 

"You're creating illusions, brother?" Thor wondered.  He looked closer at the fog and smiled softly.  "You were named well."

 

"Yes, that may be true," Loki looked amazed at what he was doing.  

 

"Back in the van people!" Darcy shouted.

 

"Sparky, we don't need to run from them," Steve assured her, pointing to Rhodey's plane.  "They're here to help."

 

Darcy glared up at him and her eyes were that unnatural icy blue that signified it wasn't just Darcy taking up headspace in her mind.  She glared at Steve and shook her head.  To his credit Steve didn't back down, not from the old souls trying to take over his girlfriend and not about whether the plane full of friends above should be exploded out of the sky.

 

Tony handed two bits of electronics to Sam and nodded, "It won't hurt them, it'll just ground them."

 

Sam looked to Steve for confirmation that he should go up and Steve sighed and nodded. 

 

"Hey," he whispered as he stepped towards Darcy and placed a hand on her cheek.  "Come back to me, Sparky."

 

Darcy blinked a few times and the unnatural blue went away, she shivered and sighed, "They do NOT like anything to do with Fury.  And they are very annoyed with you right now."

 

"We'll figure it out," Steve nodded, pulling her in for a quick hug.  "So, where are we going?"

 

Scott popped up to full size, dangerously invading Darcy and Steve's personal space.  He looked between the two of them contemplatively before his expression clearly read 'to hell with it', before placing hands on each of their backs.   

 

"Guys, we're still due at the casino in like, fifteen minutes.  My friends are not gonna wait, they're gonna rob the place and then be totally stuck with getting arrested," Scott panicked.  "We HAVE to go.  Last time I got Luis arrested, I literally, really, didn't ever hear the end of it."

 

“That was Rhodey!” Sam announced as he rushed back down with the device still in his hands.

 

"We do have a handy dandy illusion machine now," Clint admitted as he poked his head up and over the backseat.  "Hey---are we immune to those illusions, like permanently cause we're all fed into the hive mind?"

 

"Nice try, Fart-ton, this time I'm getting the zingy one-liner!" Scott shouted as he glared at Clint.  "Go back to your hovel!"

 

"Zingy one-liner?" Clint blinked back at him in confusion.  "This isn't CSI dude, we're not gonna do a zingy one liner and then cut to the show credits."

 

"I'm funny dammit!" Scott hissed at Clint.

 

"You don't even belong here!  You're like---extra, dude," Clint reminded him, a bit viciously.

 

"What in the hell is going on right now?" Steve whispered to Darcy, feeling there was something more behind a petty argument between their two class clowns.  

 

"Nothing good, I think," Darcy admitted.  But they didn't have time to worry about that, they definitely had bigger fish to fry.   She smiled when Steve kissed her forehead and then let out a slow sigh.  Sam came back down to Earth and gave everyone two thumbs up. "Okay---we ready for the next adventure, guys?"

  
  


"Rock and Roll, Darce!"

 

"BARTON! STOP STEALING THE ZINGY ONE LINER!" Scott screeched.  "My humor is valid, Barton!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Book One. 
> 
> I'm going to come back to this later, probably in a few months, and post Book Two. Where I will attempt to have eighty-thousand characters in a ridiculously plotted adventure book and answer questions that were left wide open here.
> 
> Thank you SO much for your support here. This was the very first thing I wrote in the Marvel fandom, and every kudo, comment and nudge here really made me feel so welcome. I would have never done this without you amazing readers!!


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